Vindicated (A Sequel To Stolen)
by thesecretsociety
Summary: I. Miss. You.
1. Yellow

_So who ordered for a sequel? If you **haven't** read Stolen yet, I strongly recommend that you should first. And then **stop**. If you already have, welcome back, cricket! :) And if you're still mad at me for the ending, I know cliffhangers could be really infuriating, but I think sometimes they're essential. I didn't write it just to keep you hanging or solely leave an opening for a sequel, but I think cliffhangers are the most **epic** endings. Ahem, Inception, everybody? But that's a lot better story than mine. LOL._

_Here's a **glimpse**. And yes, Vindicated is another song from Dashboard Confessional. Rated M, just in case._

* * *

PROLOGUE: **Yellow**

Time swiftly passed by until the calendar posted on the kitchen wall reminded that it's already been over a year. The climate changed as the seasons did; life went on for everybody, but the feeling had always been awfully the same, that same feeling of loneliness, heartache, and a slow painful death. It was supposed to heal in time, that's what they all promised. It was supposed to be buried into the new age and to fade away into the numerous demands that the process of moving on had all so required. But just who were they kidding? It's _not_ what Chloe wanted. Moving on wasn't part of any option. She wasn't even trying at all. Truth be, all she ever _needed_ was her dear Beca to come back, hold her again, kiss her again, love her again as if the mighty Phoenix had never even left in the first place.

It's been over a year since Beca Mitchell _died_ in that bomb explosion, Chloe still refused to take it all in that the brunette was indeed forever gone. It was because of that long-stemmed rose – only Beca would have pulled it off, it was the redhead's strongest claim. And it didn't matter when everybody thought she was starting to go insane for even considering that the horrible monster was actually alive because, just in case, even if everybody else happened to be right, and even if her intuition happened to be wrong, Chloe had a little _hope_ to cling on, and it was the closest being to feeling happy that she would ever be since losing the love of her life.

Her new home, a simple house away from her father, was a sanctuary. It was the perfect place to hide and find the solitude she needed. But for the sake of the other's sanity, like Aubrey perhaps who begged her every single day to move on, and like Ronie who sent her text messages in a daily basis as a way of checking in, Chloe would still get out of bed, still attend social gatherings, still practice her cooking skills, and try to live a life as normal as it possibly could (Beca would want that also anyway, right?).

_"Look at the stars,  
Look how they shine for you,  
And everything you do,  
Yeah, they were all yellow."_

Although sometimes, _normal_ included instances like this – waking up in the middle of the night and impulsively deciding to paint the bedroom walls _yellow_. A few more rolls, and the place would soon turn into an authentic sunny Yellow Room. Okay, so maybe it wasn't exactly a product of whim when it was the very color, not the dull black, that most reminded her of Beca Mitchell.

_"I came along,  
I wrote a song for you,  
And all the things you do,  
And it was called 'Yellow'."_

And then Chloe finally decided to lie down on her bed and leisurely enjoy the scenery of the newly-painted walls amidst the dark. She couldn't help but snicker at the brightness of yellow paint striking across her eyes. Oh how Beca would have hated to see what her girlfriend did to the bedroom! The redhead chuckled imagining the irritated reactions she would have gotten until the paradisial tune was slowly being drowned by her gloomy tears as a product of the horrifying realization that it was never going to happen. Not anymore.

_"So then I took my turn,  
Oh what a thing to have done,  
And it was all yellow."_

"I miss you," she whispered into the tranquil air and paused. Chloe was seriously waiting for a response, and she would give the mighty Phoenix five reasonable seconds to do so. _One... two... three... four..._ yet nothing, just another string of empty silence unfortunately came for her. "I miss you so much, cricket."

_"Your skin,  
Oh yeah your skin and bones,  
Turn into  
Something beautiful,  
You know,  
You know I love you so,  
You know I love you so."_

If only Beca was honestly just being a very quiet cricket this very moment, just too tough to say or do anything to make her presence detectible. If only she was actually there instead of her memory, then Chloe would have been holding on to her girlfriend instead of the _dead_ red rose that she had consciously preserved to help her get through the nights and days; she wouldn't have to be crying to sleep again for the millionth time since.

* * *

_Next time, I promise there will be more. There wasn't supposed to be a prologue, but I just missed writing this story so much I had to do something. Anyways, writing this sequel will be a tremendous challenge for me. I'm going to need your support more than ever, crickets! :)_

_Song: Yellow - Coldplay_

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Pitch Perfect.


	2. Hello

_Wow, the welcome party is so overwhelming. Looks like I'm not the only one excited here! :) Oh dear lord, let me do this right... Don't make me disappoint._

**_oilzz and stuff_**_ (from Stolen): Since you're PM disabled, I hope you get this... I am truly grateful for all the positive reviews you left. Hope to see you around here. :)_

**_Lackluster Brilliance, itsmefiebs, madness2013, theothergranger, SendrickUzumaki, airdr12: _**_Thanks so much! And I can't wait for everything to take its toll as well. :)_

**_happyanon:_**_ I'm really sorry about the cliffhanger. I'm trying to make it up here. LOL._

**_Cookie: _**_I've missed writing as much as I've missed everybody too._

**_Guest _**_(Feb 10), _**_GinNoSaji, Joyce, smw48910_**_**: **I feel you, guys. I can't believe we're going to have this ride all over again. LOL._

**_Guest _**_(Feb 9): Perfect song, isn't it?_

**_NightmareWalker:_**_ I'll keep that in mind, thank you. I guess I'm going to need some help. I really have no idea how to do this. Had I known I would be writing a sequel for such a complicated story, I should have planned ahead. My bad._

**_MysticFalls94:_**_ You know, the first thing I asked myself when I decided to do this was "How the hell am I going to play this out?" I just hope I still have a few more good tricks up on my sleeve. LOL._

**_BeChloeFan01, cxcxcx386, Guest_**_ (Feb 8), **Natali1798**__: __It's so good to be back! :)_

**_RobOverstreet:_**_ It's my pleasure, dear. :)_

_Now for a Valentine treat, I present to you the first chapter..._

* * *

CHAPTER ONE: **Hello**

There were sounds of trundling and shouting and laughing. Loudly. That was when Chloe realized that giving Aubrey a duplicate of her house keys was the worst idea she ever had in mind. It gave her best friend the unwarranted permission to come barge into her sanctuary at any given time. Hence, the redhead deemed deserving to give herself a little smack on her forehead along with an uttered groan for such a terribly stupid decision.

The superfluous noises coming from downstairs were no doubt made by her friends; Chloe could recognize the thick Australian accent even through the sound of muffled echoes followed closely by Jesse's bunch of stammered words. If only she could reach for a special remote like that one on Adam Sandler's movie and press on a mute button, so she could have an extra few more minutes of peaceful sleep, an extra few more minutes for herself. Regrettably, she could already hear the bedroom door creak open and sense the presence of _the_ Aubrey Posen – the loud upset sigh was a big giveaway – so even more, Chloe pretended that she was still asleep. It was much easier that way.

"Hey, sleepyhead."

It didn't stop the blonde heiress from talking to her though. Aubrey knew her too well especially whenever she was pretending to be asleep in order to shoo away people.

"I certainly did not _beg_ Kimmy Jin to clear out your schedule for today just so you could be pathetic as usual," she started with her lecture. "Posens don't beg, you know that, but I sure went out of my way to do it because I actually want to spend some good time with my best friend. Chloe, you promised you won't act like this! You promised that we would all have fun today!"

Still, the redhead wasn't keen to move an inch. Never mind that she was already being unfair here. Yeah, she did promise... but so did Beca who failed to come back when she deliberately promised to.

"Come on now, Chloe!" implored Aubrey who aggravatingly marched her way towards the bed, her high-end wedges were clacking all over the room before carefully bouncing into the space on the white sheets next to her best friend's slender body. "Do you know what Beca would have said if only she was here, huh?"

Chloe automatically held her breath at the mere mention of Beca's name proving just how much the fallen Phoenix had an effect on her. Damn it. Her best friend was using it against her. Again.

"Nothing," the redhead gave an answer finally, turning to her side to avoid any more of her best friend's claws. "She would say nothing. She would simply, _wordless_, terrorize you into leaving the room so we could carry on with our heated make out session that you have just rudely interrupted. Bam. There, you're dead. She just killed you."

"Heh." Aubrey rolled her eyes, annoyed by the entirety of the statement. "I'm glad your sense of sarcasm didn't die with the Phoenix. Very funny, Chloe!"

"But I wasn't being sarcastic."

Fine, there was a good pinch of truth in there. According to Fat Amy and Jesse, Beca's hormones a.k.a. horniness was the great unstoppable force, and _The List_ was pretty much self-explanatory. So in Aubrey's defense, just the thought that her best friend, a _baby_ like Chloe, making out with someone was already shuddering to imagine. Hence, to change the topic in an instant, the young Posen finely snatched the long-stemmed red rose away from its special container, a Swarovski crystal vase.

"This rose has to go, Beale."

"Hey!" Chloe immediately sat up, alarmed, and focused her entire being on the delicate item in the hands of her fellow heiress. "Put it back, Posen! Now!"

"Not until you get your pathetic ass off the bed," the other negotiated quickly, jumping out of the white sheets with the desired memorabilia tightly secured in her grip, the fragments of its dried petals were unfortunately falling down with the wind. "If this is what's going to make you leave this room and enjoy the day with us downstairs, then fine, we'll play this game."

The redhead was already on her feet as well, her hands leveled up to her chest, guarded, trying to make sure that her best friend wouldn't break her precious red rose.

"Aubrey, just give it back to me. Please? Just… come on."

"Come and get it."

"_Please._ Aubrey… It's… Give it to me now!"

"Do I need to throw it downstairs, Chloe?"

"No!" exclaimed the redhead as soon as she could. "I'm coming down! I'm coming down! I promise! I… I-I will be… _normal_ today! Swear! Just… please give it back to me, Aubrey!"

And the heckling slowly disappeared from the blonde's face. Oops, something's not right. The look on her best friend's eyes, the tears that threatened to leave them any moment; the pleading that strained her voice; the fear to be broken all over again – they all spelled out the message that this dead rose held a very high value that was a little more than necessary. So with a bit of guilt, she handed the rose over and soon, Chloe was hugging it like it was in fact the most cherished treasure that everybody was going crazy for.

"Chloe, it's just a rose," she muttered because that's how it should be. It should be just a rose, nothing more than that.

"I know it seems nothing to you, but it means the whole world to me."

"Is that why you painted your walls yellow?" Aubrey could't take it anymore. She didn't want to talk about it the moment she saw the vibrant walls, _frankly_. It had Beca Mitchell painted all over it, and that dead meat was always a bad idea ever since. But then here was her best friend breaking down over this stupid piece of dead flower. "Chloe, your walls were just all white yesterday… now they're all fucking yellow!"

"I'm a twenty-four year old grown woman, Aubrey! I can do whatever I want!"

"Then at least fucking want to be happy again!"

Aubrey Posen was screaming in utter frustration. At her own best friend. It only meant that Chloe was being stupid again, and the screaming was usually a wake-up call. But something about it felt like it was different.

"Look." She took a deep breath to ease the tension out. "I love you, Chloe. You're my best friend, and I hate seeing you like this. I know how much you miss Beca but… she's gone. You can wait all you want, but she's never coming back. Now you have to move on. You have to be happy again. Even without her, Chloe. Please? For me?"

And her best friend shrugged her shoulders and sighed through the sobbing. "I loved her, Aubrey… No, I love her. I _still_ do. I always will."

"I know," Aubrey nodded her head eloquently. "Everybody knows that."

"Then you have to understand. You can't just _require_ me to let it all go and move on because that's honestly too much to ask, Aubrey. These... this stupid rose, these fucking yellow walls – these are all I've got left of her… Do you know that I don't even own a photograph of her? And most of the time, I get so scared that I might forget how she looked like. I don't want that, Aubrey. It scares the shit out of me."

"But you don't have to be scared. You still have me… and Stan, and Ronie, and practically everybody else."

"Yes," Chloe briefly nodded in agreement. "But not Beca."

And Aubrey heaved a long upset sigh in surrender as she helplessly stared at her best friend. There was just one thing, one person whom Chloe needed this very moment and beyond – it was Beca. Sadly for her, the blonde heiress, in spite of the fact that she was a Posen, possessed no power to make the mighty Phoenix come all the way back. It was never a measurement of true friendship, but who could stop Aubrey from feeling disappointed? She _failed_. There was nothing she could do to help her best friend, except from a worthless cliché of action that was to move a little closer and envelop the redhead in her arms.

"It's going to be fine," she promised nonetheless. "You're going to be fine, Chloe."

That was it. There couldn't be any more perfect timing to join in but this. The pair of IT experts who was then completely forgotten by the Posen bitch had dragged themselves away from their not-so-much of a hiding place, behind the door. Jesse awkwardly spread his arms in reluctance, but even before he could decide to dive in, Fat Amy had already swept the entire group for a big hug (a more subtle way of saying "crushing their ribs").

* * *

Paul fixed his tie and straightened his suit as fast as he could then upon Gail's signal, he let himself into the office of the most powerful man there existed in the Phoenix Tower. Being the new Head Security, the work sure demanded countless moments of surprises. The list of which that he had expected didn't include the sight of his boss holding up to him a bottle of Scotch in the middle of the day at the workplace.

"Sir, you asked for me?"

"Yes," was the simple answer before the business tycoon proceeded with his walk towards the sofa at the side and set a pair of drinking glasses on the coffee table. "Come, have a seat with me."

And the bodyguard obliged, no further questions asked.

"I've always known that you're one hell of a smoker, I'm just not quite sure if you drink as much as you bleed. But I assume we've been through enough troubled times to convince you to get drunk with me in these early hours."

Paul remained quiet.

"The Balvenie 40, it is!" Clarence cheered momentarily, still, and then poured the liquor into the drinking glasses to commence the little impromptu bonding time. "Forty-year-old single malt Scotch. It's a great experience."

"The Syndicate is close to shutting down," assured his Head Security _if_ ever that was the problem that threatened his boss. "Sir, the Society is now dead too."

The redhead, however, only responded with a sardonic laugh.

"The Syndics are no longer my brothers. Just give me a go, then my boys and I will hunt them all down for you. I am no Luke. I made a choice, and this side is what I have chosen. Now I am your faithful servant, Mr. Beale."

"The airlines is gone, Paul."

The former Syndic didn't open his mouth to respond, confused by the sudden induction of such into the conversation. He had been pretending long enough as bodyguard to acknowledge the fact that the airlines belonged to the business zone of Clarence Beale's life in the real world. But it shouldn't be a problem. Business was one thing that had always went to the right direction in Clarence's life.

"Sir?"

"I was outnumbered," replied the businessman casually making a pause to sip on his Scotch. "The Board had decided. We've sold it to the rival company. Many believe that it just won't work anymore with my name attached to it. It's either it goes bankrupt or we sell it to keep it running. But either way, I've lost it already. It's gone."

"W-What do you want me to do, sir?" Paul had to ask. "Would you have me kill the entire Board?"

Clarence shook his head with a small laugh. "I just want you to drink with me… because I have failed my daughter once more… As a kid, the airlines was her most favorite thing. Chloe used to love flying. She loved it so much that if she could keep one thing out of this whole corporation, she would have chosen the airlines without any hesitation. Ironically, it's the first thing I've lost. Another thing that she truly loves… gone… and it's all my fault… _again_… It's Beca Number Two, Paul."

"Have you talked to Miss Beale then, sir?"

"How do you talk to someone who doesn't want to talk to you?" the redhead posted the question sincerely because he desperately needed to know. If only Paul had the answer for that. The bodyguard, however, simply lowered his head and drank in response. So Clarence sighed and poured more liquor into his own glass as the time ticked by. "You're wrong, you know."

The Head Security tilted his head to the side as he waited for the follow up.

"Unlike the Syndicate," Clarence went on, "the Society coexists with the people. That means it's _never_ dead, Paul. The Society lives… and who knows? Maybe, at this very moment, underground, the hunt for the treasure still continues."

At the end of that sentence, both men caught themselves exchanging a meaningful look. Thus, to make a pretentious ignorance, the men in black suits raised their respective glasses of Scotch, and drank away. _Maybe_. Funny how powerful the word could imply to be.

* * *

"This is a total disaster!" Chloe could hear the complaints of her diva of a best friend as she made her way to the living room where the rest of the group had already convened for the movie marathon they had planned to do. "I miss the personal chef, the servers, the food. I miss the 152-inch screen, the grandeur of the wooden ship, and I certainly miss Captain Jack Sparrow. Remind me again why the hell did my idiot best friend wanted to leave the manor."

"Quit bitchin' around, will 'ya?" the other blonde shot back. "Jesse and I grew up with pirated movies and stuff. I could be stupid and a total redneck, but this 110-inch HD TV will always be much better than a small laptop screen, Your _Kardashian_ Highness."

The regular bickering was temporarily put to an end when Jesse purposely cleared his throat to signify Chloe's arrival. All eyes suddenly shifted towards her, and she did her very best to do her end of the bargain as promised – flash a big smile and act as happy as she possibly could.

"Did America run out of cows or something?" she inquired, mystified a little. _Cars_ was already playing on the wide flat screen TV mounted on the wall but the table was set with big bowls of greens instead of the typical junkies or any other unhealthy food that was always fit for occasions like this. "Has everybody gone vegan? I thought we're supposed to be in love with killer burgers."

"Finally!" Fat Amy screamed in victory, even pumping her fists up in the air and looking up to the ceiling for dramatic effect. "Faith in humanity restored! Thank you, Chloe."

"Hey!" Aubrey threw a look at the Australian chick then secured her own hands on her hips intimidatingly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You are making us eat a lawn, bitch!"

"I-I'm fine with anything," Jesse predictably just shrugged his shoulders earning himself a 'don't be so stupid' look from everyone. "Okay, I prefer popcorn or anything else, but I-I don't want to argue with Aubrey. She could be… really… scary."

The Posen heiress appeared to be gratified by the adjective associated with her, surprisingly. Fat Amy, on the other hand, punched her fellow old Phoenix on the shoulder to prove that she was _that _scary too.

"Idiots." Chloe was laughing at her spot. _Hysterically._ And the view was so rare that the entire world seemed to have stopped to savor on it; her friends all stared at her in awe. It felt like forever since the last time it actually happened that the sensation was almost a miracle.

"Punch him again," Aubrey, without thinking, made the command.

Her normally antagonist gladly obliged much to Jesse's dismay. They were going to do it over and over again if that's what it would take to make the lonely Chloe Beale at least laugh one more time.

"Guys, stop!" the redhead put some effort to save the poor guy from obtaining some bruises but her jolt of laughter kept on coming giving the wrong signal to the Australian blonde. Fine, maybe she was enjoying it – just a little bit – but all because her friends were clearly a bunch of crazies. "Please don't hurt him. Come on, guys, let's get this thing started. Go raid my kitchen instead."

At the full consent, even before the end of that sentence, Fat Amy swiftly headed towards the food factory dragging along her human grocery cart. What? She had the _formal _consent to raid the kitchen!

"I'm still eating my salad," Aubrey posted it supposedly as a threat.

Chloe winked at her playfully instead that it almost felt like having the old one back. "And I'm still ordering pizza."

The Posen heiress sported a smirk as she watched her best friend pick up the phone and make the call. If only Stan was there to witness all those moments for himself. Well, Chloe was almost Chloe. So hopefully, in time, Stan would be almost Stan. Then everything would be alright. Death would finally stop breaking people apart.

* * *

It was both a pleasant and an unpleasant surprise when the secretary announced the arrival of her emotionally unstable son at the receiving area. Ronie hurried out of her office to meet him despite being completely unprepared for it.

"Stan," she breathed out as soon as she cautiously shut the door behind her.

"You could have just let me in," he told her, a little confused by the situation. "That's the entire point of having an office, mom, and a secretary. You don't have to come all the way outside."

Almost too quickly, Ronie was flashing this awkward and nervous big grin. For a second there, it appeared like she was the frivolous youngster while her son was the mature one. She resembled those Barden kids who would try to hide an entire brick wall of mess behind their collective backs. Optimistically though, she wouldn't be as obvious about it.

"Mom."

"What? I didn't expect you to come. You're supposed to be over at Chloe's... with your friends."

Stan sighed heavily. If he wanted a lecture, he wouldn't have come."So can we go in? I just need to talk."

"Uh… y-yeah," his mother nodded her head with hidden disinclination as she held on the knob possessively. "But you know, i-if you are more comfortable here outside. We can also have tea here… o-or juice, or c-coffee, anything you want, dear. Plus, my secretary would love to listen to your... manly stories. Uh… Sports? Sex? Drugs?"

The young Mitchell turned towards the horrified secretary for a quick apologetic gesture.

"Mom, is there something wrong?"

It wasn't the kind of question Ronie would be happy to answer as of the time being. So, defeated, she flashed yet another big grin and shook her head to dismiss the idea. "Let's go to my office."

With hands silently shaking, she turned around facing the door and took a deep breath. She subsequently pushed it open to reveal the room looking normal, too normal, like no two people occupied it just a few minutes ago. It was both a pleasant and an unpleasant surprise; relieving and disappointing all at the same time. That was pretty close. Phew. Secretly, she surely wanted that family reunion to happen – be it planned or by an accident – but apparently, it wasn't the right timing for it yet.

* * *

Chloe should have known that the movie marathon would have ended up into a silly drinking game. Aubrey initially refused to join, but eventually gave in to the temptation after just a few taunting from Fat Amy. Jesse as always simply agreed with everybody else's idea which he regretted in the end because then he had to throw himself in between the two blondes again to stop their catfight. Luckily, he still volunteered to drive them home after the pair had already passed out by the stairs.

The day turned out to be really… fun. It could be the booze, but who cared? The fact that Chloe could still recognize how fun actually felt like was a good sign, right? It meant that she was getting better… hopefully. She cried along to _Tuesdays With Morrie_, laughed along to _The Hangover_, screamed along to _Evil Dead_, and just practically did everything she never genuinely did in over a year. It felt good, really. But it didn't seem to feel so right, because as she entered the Yellow Room and lied down on her bed for the night, she found her mind drifting away to the pool of memories where Beca Mitchell could only exist since.

"But she's right here," she whispered in argument as Aubrey's words flashed in her mind: _She's gone. You can wait all you want, but she's never coming back._ "I can feel that she's right here."

The atmosphere, however, was being a very quiet cricket again, betraying her and humiliating her, proving her intuitions wrong once more.

"Beca, please. Just one sign. Give me one sign. Let me know that you're still here with me, babe."

Chloe waited for five reasonable seconds, just like how it was every night, but nothing came as usual, so she smiled bitterly through the dark; a sad tear slip out of her eyes one after the other, and they didn't stop even when she tried. It seemed like she was going to cry to sleep again… only it wasn't, because then the phone that was clenched in her hands rang loudly in the silence of the evening. She didn't even realize she was still holding it. Truth was she'd been holding it all day just in case Fat Amy would want to order another pizza because it turned out that two boxes weren't enough for her alone.

The young heiress was supposed to be throwing the phone away, infuriated by whoever was calling her at this ungodly hour. But she answered. For whatever reason the universe had for this, she did answer the damn call.

"Hello?"

No response.

"Hello?" she croaked louder than the first just to be sure she could be heard. Still, nothing came.

She was supposed to think that it was just some stupid prank by someone who seriously had to get a life and so must hang up already. But she kept the phone against her ear. She could hear someone breathing. There was unquestionably life at the other end of the line. And for whatever reason the universe had for this, that certain sound of breathing calmed her when nobody and nothing else was able to. It soothed her like it was some kind of a magical therapy. The tears had stopped and her lips had curved into a serene smile. For the first time ever, it honestly felt like Beca Mitchell was never truly gone. Chloe wasn't going to cry herself to sleep this time; she was going to sleep contentedly in the arms of a certain cricket's lullaby.

* * *

_So it's not that much, and it's totally a different approach from how I started Stolen before, but my guts are telling me this is the right course of action. Any thoughts?_

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Pitch Perfect.


	3. Ghost

**_charliepollock1357, Lackluster Brilliance, cxcxcx386, asdfg: _**_I guess we're missing Beca more with that last scene._

**_avidreader:_**_ It's my pleasure to take you to another roller coaster. God, that sounds evil. LOL._

**_brittanysnodes, madness2013:_**_ Don't we just want to give her a hug? :(_

**_Natali1798:_**_ What did I do?_

**_MysticFalls94:_**_ I just hope my guts don't fail me. I can't think of any other way to start the series than continuing from where we left of - she was truly heartbroken and then there was a rose! It's like, her senses convince her that Beca's gone, but her heart just wouldn't accept it. That for me is captivating._

**_NightmareWalker:_**_ I have to admit the breathing thing was stalker-ish, and I even included it into writing. But in this context, I find it really spellbinding how one simple breathing could totally change a person. I wanted to illustrate in the most possible way that even through [a pretentious] death, Beca and Chloe had a very strong connection. No words or physical existence required, just one quiet breathing. I hope I was able to convey that._

**_Guest_**_ (Feb 14): Oh she will definitely be back! :)_

**_itsmefiebs:_**_ It just worries me if ever people start making comparisons._

**_BeChloeFan01:_**_ Exactly, dear. I'm glad you felt that, too._

**_badwriters:_**_ Thank you for reading Stolen! There will be a happy ending this time, I can promise you._

**_ShesArmed:_**_ So am I._

**_theothergranger:_**_ When one doesn't always have your side and rub off to your face how pathetic you can be then still end up feeling disappointed when she had no way to make you happy... that's the truest of friendship._

* * *

CHAPTER TWO: **Ghost**

"Boo."

Stan seriously backed away in apprehension at the sight of a petrifying Ghostface-gone-wrong after opening the front door of the motel room he had to share with Fat Amy and Jesse. In his defense, it wasn't even Halloween yet or April Fool's! _Learn to use the peephole_, he mentally reminded himself.

"Mom," he groaned as Ghostface removed the mask to reveal the very amused expression on his mother's face. She was annoyingly laughing her lungs out.

"You should have seen your face, dear."

"What are you doing here, mom?" questioned the young Mitchell shaking his head in averseness when the woman had already crossed the invisible barrier between the outside world and the living room. He didn't want a visitor or company, by the way.

"God, you sounded like Beca."

Ronie had a grimace on as if being close to the monster's likeness was the most terrible thing in the planet, and Stan couldn't help but grunt because it was tactlessly true.

"_I_ am going to cook dinner for you," she smirked and waltzed into the kitchen carrying the paper bags all by herself. Her son had no other choice but to trail behind her. "When you were a kid, you used to be _so_ obsessed with peanut butter and jelly. They were your favorite! But no, we're not going to eat sandwiches for dinner. I just thought the idea would entice you."

"I'm fine," he muttered scratching the back of his head coyly.

"Actually, it's just take-out food," she confessed ignoring the silent plea from him.

"Mom, really, I'm fine."

"It's Thai."

"Mom!" Stan yelled out though quickly stopped himself before saying anything more stupid, letting out a deep sigh as he strained to avoid his mother's eyes. He didn't mean to. "I'm not hungry… I'm sorry."

And it was Ronie's turn to take a deep breath and asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I live here," he mumbled the obvious answer.

"_Seriously_, Stan, what the hell are you doing here?"

Something about it implied that it was more than just being in the room or eating take-out food with his mother because she was serious, not being her goofy self but acting like a real parent this time around.

"I know your friends went out tonight... _including _Chloe, and you're here locking up."

"I lost a father and a sister," he stated just in case everybody forgot about it. He had an impeccably rational reason for locking up.

"Well, Chloe lost her everything."

And Stan kept his mouth shut to the glaring truth.

"She's trying whatever she can to not be _this_ ridiculous," he had to endure another lecture which sucked. "And newsflash: I, _too_, lost Beca and Phil. We all lose people we love, Stan. I know it hurts, but that's just how life works. Then you're supposed to be moving on, not shutting people out! You can't be living with the ghosts of the past. They're… _ghosts_."

"If you're tired of consoling-"

Ronie cut him off straightaway, "You are an idiot if you think I'll ever get tired of you. You're my _son_! And that's why I _need _you to stop this crap now. Give me the chance to be your mom again, and let me help you. But then you have to help yourself, too."

If only she could tell him the entire truth.

"You've always been my mother," he assured her holding her hands. "You know, even when we all thought you're already dead, it never changed. It's just that… during that night, I… I had a father for the first time, mom. It was so fulfilling. Then it's just so frustrating that it was so brief I didn't even get to say I love him."

"Phil knew you do, and he did love you. He didn't tell you as much as Fat Amy and Aubrey, but… he did, Stan. He loved you just as much as he loved your sister."

"Now he's gone."

"And you should understand that it wasn't Jesse's fault," she said ignoring the groan and the disregard on her son's face. "If there was anything that boy did, it was to protect you… because that's what friends do."

He gave his mother one more look before staring down at the floor. Stan knew she was right, took him over a year to finally let it sink in. Truth was it's been there all along in his subconsciousness. Perhaps, after all, maybe he only needed an excuse to be pathetic for once, to get mad at the entire universe because as his mother suggested, this was how life worked – so unfair. Damn it, he was starting to think like his sister, too!

"I don't know about you there but Mr. Ghostface and I here," Ronie paused to position the mask comfortably on the center of the dining table before settling on a chair with great enthusiasm, "are going to enjoy this lovely dinner. Let's all pretend I cooked this myself… unless it tastes bad."

And so his goofy of a mother was back. Stan chuckled and shook his head in hilarity while dragging his feet towards the table to join her for dinner. He glanced at her for the first time in his _new_ life. He bid goodbye to the ghosts of the past; he didn't need them anymore. He only needed the people he didn't lose, his mother to start with and then there were his friends; they were his _family_.

* * *

Quincy Tanner was two hundred percent sure that he plummeted into his expensive and comfy couch before completely passing out, that was his very last memory. Okay, he was drunk, but he was so damn sure about it. So in his most possible sober state, he wondered what on earth was he doing in the kitchen and his entire body sprawled all over the dining table? The soft sound of beat box patterns created the impression that he was dreaming, yet the taste of blood in his mouth was all too real. He shut his eyes wide open and was shocked to see himself being secured in place with large duct tapes by an Asian woman.

"Who are you?" he asked with hiss. "What the fuck do you think you're doing, _bitch_?"

But it was as if she didn't even notice him at all except from the fact that she continued to wrap the tape around him until the roll had ultimately ran out. He shook his body, struggled to get out of the trap but to no avail.

"Get me fucking out of here!" he was practically yelling.

The woman slowly directed her big and perfectly round brown eyes towards him and murmured, "Ssh. You'll wake the neighbors up, Mr. Tanner."

"What?"

He couldn't hear a thing. He could swear her lips moved to speak, but her voice was incredibly inaudible even during this _very_ noiseless time of the night.

"What the fuck do you want from me?" he tried to question once again trying to sound bolder and more powerful in an attempt to scare her off. At least intimidate her. "I'm fucking telling you, you don't want to mess with me… I'm a _Syndic_! If you kill me now, the Syndicate will surely come hunt you down. You hear that? They will fucking kill you!"

Right at the very end of that sentence, the Syndic received a jaw dropping punch from out of nowhere. The enormous pain he had to wince through implied that he had already received more than necessary before he drifted back to consciousness. That should explain his ruptured lips.

"That's not how you talk to a lady, bastard," another voice filled the atmosphere. It was deep and extremely _masculine_ as it was. Soon, a gigantic man, possibly at least six feet and six inches in height, became more visible to the naked eye. He could easily pass as a bouncer or a professional wrestler merely by his physical appearance, and it was enough to make the hostage essentially shudder in fear. "No wonder you still don't have a wife at forty-two. Who wants a filthy drunkard jackass for a husband, right?"

Quincy let out a chuckle to cover for his terror and avoid the inclination to stammer his flustered words. "So… w-what the fuck do you want from me, Vin Diesel?"

"His name is Thud," the Asian woman informed, but of course, nobody heard her. "I'm Lilly Onakuramara."

Thud took his gun out, filled the magazine with cartridges, loaded it as the hostage intently watched, and set it on the table next to Quincy's hand, just a few centimeters away, like an intended form of false hope. If only he wasn't wrapped with sticky duct tapes, it would have been easier for the Syndic to simply reach for the gun and kill the pair of intruders.

"What the fuck do I want from you? It's actually quite simple, Tanner. You see, you have information that my boss needs to know. Badly. _So_ fucking badly."

"And what is it?"

"Where's your boss, Tanner? Where on earth is Bumper Allen?"

Quincy slid his head into a more convenient position wherein he could check on whatever expression there was upon the big guy's face. Shit, he was serious.

"And why would I tell you?"

Provoking Andre the Giant was a bad idea. Quincy got another hard punch for it, lost a tooth that he almost swallowed, and coughed more blood out of his windpipes. Thankfully, Thud stopped immediately. Maybe he was being merciful. No, probably because another sound of footsteps was closing in. The Syndic shut his eyes tightly so when he opened them, he could see the arrival through the dark much clearer.

"No." He could only wish that what he was witnessing was nothing more but a terrifying _nightmare_. "T-This can't be."

If he wasn't tied into place, he would have bolted out of his own house, run away as fast as he could, away from this dangerous _monster_. Forget about the muscular man, this tiny creature was the real deal. He could die in an instant.

"But you're already dead!"

Quincy hoped the rumors weren't true. He could hope he was looking right at a ghost. Unluckily for him, this woman was indeed Beca Mitchell, and the knife she just plunged into his thigh was just as real, and so was the electric drill she had in hand. This was taking too much time than she could tolerate.

"What the fuck are you gonna do to me, Phoenix?"

"If you could have just cooperated with me earlier," muttered Thud. He was honestly feeling sorry. "She's not exactly patient, Syndic."

The mighty Phoenix directed her blank stare towards the hostage as she removed the Phillips screw driver from the drill. She reached for the counter and soon a masonry drill bit was being attached into the chunk. Anticipating the worst, Quincy cried for mercy and screamed for help but Thud purposely shoved an apple into the Syndic's mouth; Lilly plugged it in, and so the drilling began. Beca casually drove the tool into the hostage's shoulder creating a hole deep into his skin, his muscles, his bones; fresh hot blood splattering everywhere.

"I'll talk! I'll talk!" he desperately screamed out against the piece of fruit stuck in between his teeth. "I'll fucking talk!"

Thud removed the apple and questioned with a sense of mockery, "You were saying?"

"I'll fucking talk, you fucking butchers!"

And so Beca switched off the drill and huffed. Why did he have to wait for her to build a bloody tunnel into his shoulder before talking? Idiot.

"N-Nobody knows… exactly where he is," Quincy tried to speak as he tried to catch his breath. "Bumper and… the others… t-they're switching locations from time to time. The… police are after them."

"What about the treasure?" inquired the giant in behalf of his typically speechless boss.

"I don't know about the fucking treasure!"

Beca immediately switched on the drill once more. Just the first few roars and it already sounded like a requiem for the poor Syndic. He struggled to get out of the duct tapes because if the mighty Phoenix threatened to craft another hole into his body, she would surely do it. True enough, the broiling drill bit started to penetrate the skin upon his stomach.

"No fucking treasure yet!" he yelled in great torment. "They haven't found it!"

And the drilling fortunately came to end.

"Bumper needs to find the treasure to be at least as rich as he was before _you_ put him down! But they have no lead. They're just hunting some people down, tracing that fucking Benji's transactions before he became a dead man. That's all the fuck I know!"

Nonchalantly, with that same emotionless state, Beca dropped the drill on the floor and walked out of the house without a single word.

"We still have to kill you though," Thud flashed a sinister grin at the guy who would soon be roasted inside his own kitchen before soaking him with fuel.

Meanwhile, Beca stood next to Cynthia-Rose who was waiting as a lookout at the doorstep. The dark-skinned woman immediately showed the blinking red dot on the screen of a tracking device. She seemed a little troubled, but the other was, as expected, too calm about it.

"Yo. If Lilly's device is correct, the police are on their way. Besides, some of the households turned their lights on. At least one has possibly called in to report already."

The cold-blooded creature, as usual, made no response. Several seconds more, Lilly emerged out of the house followed closely by Thud who poured the remaining fuel over the porch. Along with Cynthia-Rose, he began to march away long before Lilly who enjoyed lighting up fires for fun, could throw a lighter in causing the house to be gradually swarmed by fire. Beca, on the other hand, coolly pulled a cigarette out of her breast pocket, lit it up with the aid of the burning post then joined her new team into the darkness.

"Here are your keys, boss," the man tossed them to the Head Phoenix.

Beca subsequently hopped into her precious convertible – a beautifully restored shiny black 1962 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder – and spoke her first words in _three _days, "Don't call me 'boss'."

"What should I call you then?"

But then she was back to being her normally quiet self. She started the engine, exhaled a cloud of cigarette smoke, and drove off.

"Should I call her 'buddy' or something? But she's the Head Phoenix!"

Thud presented the dilemma before Cynthia-Rose because for one, she had known Beca the longest, and second, even if Lilly gave out an answer, he wouldn't hear a thing. Unfortunately though, the old Phoenix simply shrugged her shoulders as soon as they got into the old van much to the guy's disappointment. So many years of working with the mighty Phoenix, but even up to this point, CR honestly still couldn't read Beca's mind. Especially not when she was being her old bulletproof character.

* * *

"Cheers to unemployment!"

Fat Amy howled as she raised her glass of strawberry smoothie that she hoped Chloe would pay for at the end of the night. Her friends, including those customers from the other tables, threw her an odd look, and the only reason Jesse raised his can of soda was because she elbowed him right on the rib; Aubrey reluctantly complied while Chloe giggled as she raised her own cup of coffee.

"I told you it's not for long," the other blonde contended. "I can get you a job at my father's company. You're both, like, super talented with computers. He'll hire you in no time."

"We're criminals," Jesse reminded in a whisper in case somebody would overhear.

"Psh... He doesn't have to know that."

Aubrey frantically fanned herself with her newly-manicured nails before taking a big gulp of water. Her father would surely kill her if he ever found out about it, let alone that she'd been hanging out with these kinds of people at a filthy local diner which used to be a crime scene by the way. It's not a good image for a Posen.

"But I'm enjoying the bum life," whined Fat Amy. "Look at you two, you don't have jobs but you're, like, super rich. Give it some time, I bet I'll be fucking rich, too."

"Uh… we do have jobs, Fat Amy," Chloe tried to explain. "People pay us to make an appearance on their TV shows or events or parties or whatever, and we also appear on magazines and endorse stuff. That's work for us."

"And they pay you real good?" the Australian blonde inquired and received a pair of nods. "Lucky bitches."

"My father will certainly like you," lied the Posen heiress with a matching smug.

"Forget it, mate. I don't want to work for your father. I mean, you're already practically a psycho, so what do you expect from King of the Posens? I'd rather work here at the diner and get free meals everyday. Besides, who needs a fucking job anyway? I'm living the dream, suckers!"

"We owe Richard Posen a fortune," Jesse muttered then munched into his cheeseburger.

"Shut it, Jesse!" Fat Amy elbowed him again for popping out her happy bubbles and sighed. Freaking life after The Secret Society. It was actually awfully much better back then. They didn't have to worry about anything else; they just had to do their part on every mission. Suddenly, their money bags were draining. Fast.

"I happen to have a job offer for you," the redhead offered from out of the blue. "It's not an _exciting _adventure to the wilderness – I mean, the opportunity to work _with _the Posens like what Aubrey offers, but I'll give you a good pay for it."

"Shoot," the pair of IT experts sat up to listen. It felt like an orientation for a new mission all over again except there was no scary Phil anymore. May he rest in peace.

Chloe reached for her bag and scrambled through the items in search for the essential element for the offered job while her friends waited patiently including Aubrey who was secretly dying out of curiosity. What the hell was her best friend up to this time? Before long, the employer was holding up a small piece of pink-colored paper.

"You think you can track this phone number for me?" she asked sliding the paper towards the experts.

"This is a piece of cake, Chloe."

_Excellent_, Chloe smiled. She took a sip on her coffee while Jesse and Fat Amy eagerly ogled at the screen of the pocket PC device waiting for it to process the typed in number.

"Is there anything you're not telling me?" Aubrey interrogated.

"It's…" her best friend's voice trailed off as she racked her brain for a convincing alibi for it. "You know... just a phone number."

Fat Amy only reached for the fries when the continued beeping erupted. The result was in and so all four instinctively leaned closer together for the big reveal.

"Nothing," the Australian chick announced, surprised herself by the result clearly displayed on the tiny screen. "The phone number doesn't exist."

Chloe could only gasped in a mixture of disbelief and disappointment, "What do you mean it doesn't exist?"

"It's like a fake number… only it's real," explained Jesse and instantly panicked at the confused expression on both heiresses' faces. "Uh… i-it appears on all records, the telecommunication company's and even on the government's, but it's untraceable… You know, the phone number is right there, but it isn't. I-It's like… a ghost!"

"A ghost?" Aubrey snorted at the thought of it.

"That's right," the other blonde nodded her head in serious affirmation though. "It's a ghost. Metaphorically… May be literally as well... Fuck, that's scary."

The Posen heiress turned to her best friend, alarmed, and questioned, "Where'd you get it anyway?"

"It's been calling me," Chloe told a pinch of truth, but left the rest of it to herself. She didn't want them to know that she'd been obsessed about it. Ever since it first called, she'd been getting them almost every night. Every call was the same – speechless, just quiet breathing – and it was supposed to freak her out already. Instead, they calmed her to sleep just like that. "I just want to know who it is."

"Maybe it's Beca," Fat Amy innocently suggested earning herself a death glare from the so-called blonde bitch because then Chloe's face shot up like she was seriously considering the idea. "What? I meant _ghost_ Beca, not _alive_ Beca. Don't be silly, people. She's burned-to-ashes-and-buried-in-an-urn-inside-a-metal-casket-six-feet-under-the-ground dead. Oh, and ghost Beca sure would be creepy like hell. An _immortal_ Dothraki warrior. I'm going to pee my pants if she ever called me from the underworld. They've got a very nice reception though."

But no, Chloe was _already_ considering the idea. Her little hope was growing.

"You know what?" Jesse chimed in to clear out their muddled heads. "This is probably just a glitch. I'll update the data when we get home then we'll find a match for it after that. I'll let you know when the job is done, Chloe."

She smiled gratefully and nodded her head absentmindedly. The guy neatly tucked the small piece of pink-colored paper into his empty wallet. The redhead, however, took her phone and began covertly punching in the numbers - she'd even memorized them already - then deliberately paused after the last digit. The name was still blank. What would she type into it? She sneaked a glance at her friends especially at Aubrey just to make sure nobody was looking then closed her eyes as she bravely typed in a name. A few moments later, she opened them and there it was glaring back at her – _Beca._

"Hey."

All four reflexively turned to the side and dropped their jaws in shock. A young Mitchell stood by their booth, a sly smile creeping out for them.

"I hope I'm not late… over a year too late."

"Stan!" they chorused in so much excitement; who cared when the rest of the diner was eyeing the group with the third degree? Stan Mitchell was back! That's all that mattered.

Fat Amy hurriedly pushed Jesse off his seat to make room for Stan; Aubrey, however, alertly enclosed the newly-arrived member of the group at the opposite end much to the Australian's dismay; hence, Chloe gladly scooted over to welcome poor Jesse to her side of the booth – it would seem like they would only have each other from this point forward when the others were clearly preoccupied with stuff already. As expected, the pair of blondes kicked off with their competition right away – the heiress offered anything that money could buy while the IT expert showered the man of the hour with sense of humor.

"Hey," Stan took a break and turned towards the only other guy at the booth. "Swanson."

Jesse, startled by the fact that he wasn't invisible to him anymore, frenziedly turned around to either sides just in case there happened to be another 'Swanson' in the diner. His redheaded seatmate, nonetheless, encouragingly nodded her head to confirm that the spotlight was indeed focused on nobody else but him.

"Y-Yeah?"

"I just want to say that," the young Mitchell surprisingly offered a hand to his old friend, "I would have done the same thing for you, man."

The IT expert was beyond speechless; the little gesture of shaking the hand waiting for him and the undeniably rewarding grin plastered on his face was the only indication that he was more than blissful for this reunion, and who cared when everybody else was giving them odd looks once more because the rest of the group were whooping madly?

"Wait, where's CR?" asked Stan later on.

"She left," the two blondes unintentionally spoke in unison. "She said she has to go fix some personal stuff."

"Oh," he said pursing his lips sexily in that oblivious manner. "I thought The Society was her only... personal stuff."

"She wanted to say goodbye to you," Chloe told him.

"I guess I missed a lot of things."

"The good thing is that you're back!" Fat Amy highlighted the news, a rational excuse to wrap an arm around him. "We're back, baby!"

Aubrey anxiously pushed the chubby arms off the guy, "The only _we_ here is Stan and _I_."

Chloe was cracking up at her seat as Stan horrifyingly begged Jesse for rescue who apologetically returned with a helpless shrug while the two blondes screamed at each other. It felt like the old times. If only the mighty Phoenix was there too. She would have hated everything about it except from the redheaded monster's presence.

"Come on, Stan." The Posen heiress grabbed him by the hand and dragged him away from the booth. "Let's go somewhere that doesn't have 'heart attack' written all over their menu."

"Hey, I actually like this place!" Fat Amy defended the diner and followed out. "And I'm coming wherever you're taking him, slutbag."

Jesse let out a heavy sigh, "I skipped high school for this."

"This is much better," Chloe gave him a pat on the shoulder, chuckling in delight. She took some cash out of her bag , left it on the table, and stood up. "Come on, Jesse. Stan needs us. We don't want him to stay away forever, do we?"

The brunet finished his drink in one long gulp and compulsorily trailed behind the young heiress. That was convenient because when they reached the door, Chloe accidentally bumped into this gigantic man with biceps that were as big as beach balls and almost flew away at the impact, Jesse easily caught her before a tragic fall. _If_ the horrible monster was here, this Nathan Jones would regret it.

"Chloe, are you okay?"

She nodded her head as an assurance but was easily distracted by the fact that the big and frightening man was frantically searching for something he might have dropped on the floor. He looked so scared that it didn't fit his behemoth appearance. Thankfully, his companion, an Asian woman with long silky black hair and big round eyes, came to his rescue murmuring something inaudible as she picked up a small red box from the space next to Chloe's foot and handed it over to him.

"Must give this to boss before I lose it," he said before heading into the diner forgetting all along that he almost killed someone with his concrete wall of a body.

The Asian woman turned to the pair of stunned strangers and moved her lips to speak in an incredibly soft voice, "That's Thud and he's probably sorry about what happened."

"What?" Jesse furrowed his eyebrows in confusion because he couldn't make out anything. But she was already on her way passed them to go after her friend.

Meanwhile, Chloe's mind was already drifting away. She recognized the small red box. It was a Dunhill Top Leaf cigarette packet, exactly what _her_ Beca used to smoke before. And there were thousands of smokers in the world who could have certainly shared the same preference, but there had to be a reason why her heart was racing wildly, hopeful and anticipating. The urge to turn around was alarmingly right around the corner.

"Come on, let's get you out of here."

Before she could decide to do something stupid like stalking the pair of strangers perhaps, Jesse had already ushered her out of the diner to meet the trio at the parking lot. She never got the chance to turn around after that. But she should have. And then she should have found the ghost she was looking for.

* * *

_So close! And cruel, I know. LOL. A little trivia: I originally planned to continue Stan's animosity towards Jesse at least for a little more, but it just doesn't feel right without him in the group. And it's interesting to note that it was Stan's first one-on-one conversation with Ronie._

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Pitch Perfect.


	4. Predators

_**fullasincerity: **Yes, it's kind of creepy. But I've explained my side on that already, I just wanted to emphasize the strong connection between them.  
_

**_FilipinoBlood:_**_ It'll be worth the wait, indeed. _

_**BeChloeFan01: **Your keyboard is very much forgiven. And I appreciate your feelings-gone-out-of-control._

_**Rennie Laroche, charliepollock1357, itsmefiebs, asdfg**: That reunion would have sucked had Chloe turned around. I want her to have a little treasure-hunting (kind of) experience first._

**_avidreader:_**_ No matter how good Beca is, she still needs an entire back up team. She needed another IT expert, hence Lilly's role plus if you do remember, the only one who was really able to hurt her was that big guy during the diner attack hence Thud._

**_NightmareWalker: _**_Beca has a very good reason for staying away to start with. It's not like she simply walked out, she's still keeping an eye on them especially Chloe but Beca has to stay away. And I'd love to explore that dilemma - a life without each other. I really hate stories where one is merely defined by her lover. I need Chloe to at least learn how to stand up for herself so that when she finally find Beca again, she wouldn't be the damsel in distress that she was back in Stolen._

**_cxcxcx386:_**_ Let's face it, Fat Amy and Aubrey are very obvious about it. LOL. Imagine more than a year had passed... people change, and change doesn't always mean something new. Besides, she needs that._

**_DOPE:_**_ I always find restored cars really cool. :)_

**_MysticFalls94:_**_ After all the stories we've been through, you still ask me that? You know I love playing with readers' feelings. LOL._

**_Guest_**_ (Feb 18)__:__ Well, I use personal account to access other sites._

**_AlphonseAl: _**_I'm so glad to see you back, dear. :)_

**_airdr12:_**_ When you share love for GoT with someone, that's not creepy at all. When someone tells you GoT sucks, that would be the creepiest thing ever._

_(SPOILER) Now let's test how good Jesse is when it comes to technology..._

* * *

CHAPTER THREE: **Predators**

Chloe held her gaze on the dark-colored headstone where Beca Mitchell's name was neatly inscribed. She patiently waited for some kind of a miracle to happen like perhaps the ground shaking and parting away if it meant that the love of her life could somehow return to her. Sadly though, the headstone simply glared back _indifferently_.

"See?" she even lifted a hand to emphasize the point. "You are so unfair. I talk to you and you just look back at me with your silly blank stare, just being such a stupid quiet cricket. I told you I hate silent treatments!"

Still, she didn't get the response she was wishing for.

"And you never bothered to laugh at my jokes. They're actually funny, you know. And you weren't supposed to… die. We both made promises that night. I made it through, so you're supposed to be here too… _alive_. And you said we're going to live together for the rest of our lives, remember? It was supposed to be long and fun... You have to remember, Beca 'cause this, _this_ was not supposed to happen. This was supposed to be a happy-"

The young heiress immediately stopped before she could choke out the last word of that sentence. She could totally go on and on about it, lay out all her valid arguments as to why Beca Mitchell was so damn unfair. But then she realized that the stupid headstone was still only glaring back at her and the sad truth was already fatally biting her – none of it really mattered anymore.

"You are so freaking unfair," she croaked and then chuckled bitterly. "Because I love you."

Damn it, still no ground shaking nor dark grey skies closing in like how a movie apocalypse should be.

"I am so in love with you that I think you're actually still alive," Chloe then confessed in the quietest possible manner she could as if it was too confidential or scandalous for the rest of the universe to hear. "Yeah, it's crazy. I mean, I'm talking to myself, for Christ's sake… I keep getting these calls, Beca. I tried conversing, but all I get is breathing. There's someone at the other end of the line listening to me, I know. And I just want to know who it is… because honestly, I have been wishing that it's you... But if not, then I'll just come back here. I'll just keep coming back here to you. It sounds stupid, but there's nothing to lose, right? I just have to give it a try. Beca, I'm sure you'd understand."

She ran her eyes over the inscription, dusted it off with her fingers, and reached for the red rose she brought for the day. Chloe tenderly planted a kiss on the tip of the rosebud, placed it delicately by the headstone, and sighed. This was the daily routine, and it's quite surprising how she hadn't grown tired of it yet.

What wasn't part of the routine though was her mobile phone ringing loudly inside her bag. How could she forget to put it on silent mode! Besides, Kimmy Jin knew the drill whenever she would visit Beca's grave; the _Do Not Disturb _sign was religiously hanging up on the door. The thing was when she checked on the phone screen, it wasn't Kimmy Jin's ever-serious face that was on display; it was Jesse who was calling. So eagerly, Chloe swiped her thumb to answer.

"It really is a ghost phone number!"

She didn't even have the chance to utter any form of greeting. Jesse went straight to giving her an update about the subject, talking faster and louder than necessary in pure delight. He felt useful again.

"Look, we didn't find a match. But I may have a way to track it down, Chloe."

It was all it took to keep her extremely interested, carving out a smile and nodding her head in comprehension. She cut him off with a zealous 'I'm coming over', hung up, and dashed back to her car.

* * *

Cigarette smoking and iced cold beer; they were the best combination of lunch meal, at least for Beca. She casually blew smoke rings out of her mouth while Lilly quietly worked on her laptop from the other side of the bar counter. This was exactly why the Head Phoenix hired her for the job – Lilly seemed to have Jesse's expertise but lacked the headache-infusing chaos that went along with Fat Amy's presence. Some sort of inner peace moment, finally. Although Beca would never admit it, there was something about this incredibly picture-perfect silence that made her miss the big fat blonde with the annoying thick Australian accent.

"You okay, Mitchell?"

Beca turned to Cynthia-Rose who was standing next to the Asian IT expert, and as a response to the question she had deemed unnecessary, she blew out tiny double rings of smoke. The old Phoenix deliberately rolled her eyes and shook her head in disregard. She should have known she wouldn't be able to squeeze out a proper answer from the monster.

"Food," Thud, accessorized with a _Pandemonium _apron and a chef's toque, came in with a tray on hand and placed a plate of dish on the bar counter. "Lobster rolls, everyone. Not as good as boss' but it's… edible… I think."

"Don't call me that," muttered the Head Phoenix.

"Really, Beca?" CR complained. "You talk to him, but not to me?"

"At least you know what to call her," the big guy argued settling on one of the bar stools.

Beca, nevertheless, shrugged her shoulders just to irritate the other. She went on to eat a piece of lobster roll which tasted great, surprisingly. So Thud did a lot better than expected. It seemed like somebody else on the team could cook pretty well. Gone were the days when it was just Beca. _Good_, she thought. It should feel that way – good, just that and nothing else.

"I've got bad news," Thud gawked at a communication device clutched in his hand. "Another ambush. I just got a message from Memphis. Three Phoenixes were killed by a team of Syndics last night."

"Do you have the names?" Lilly asked but only received a confused expression from the guy for an answer.

And so CR let out a heavy sigh. Was she the only one who could make out this lady's words? "She's asking if you have their names."

"Here," he nodded his head positively and handed the communication device over.

"Wait," the old Phoenix scanned through the names displayed on the screen with keen interest. "I recognize these people. We don't have to search through their profiles anymore; they worked with Benji a few times in the past."

"Same as the victims before them," reminded Thud.

"This is bad," CR shook her head. "They're going to kill everyone if this continues."

"Only those who had relevant connection with Benji," Beca spoke out with much more helpful words this time. "With the explosion, the main source of his old files were burned into ashes. All that's left are the people who could be alternative sources. Clarence has been eliminated out of that list, so they have to start looking for the rest."

"In that case, Jesse could-"

"Jesse is safe," the Head Phoenix hurriedly declared, careful that the ghosts of the past were kept buried away from consciousness. "If he knew something about this treasure, we would have found it by now. Bumper knows that."

"What's the plan then?" asked the big guy. "We can't just let them all die."

So the young Mitchell finished her bottle of beer like it was some spring of wisdom. "CR, you're in charge with communications; send a warning to all the chapters immediately. Thud, your job is to secure the headquarters so as the main turf. And Lilly… find something."

"Bumper is coming for us," CR hypothesized. "I think we should take a time-out from the treasure. Lilly should be tracking down the Syndics instead."

But the Head Phoenix insisted, "If we find the treasure, then we find Bumper too."

"Is it possible that Benji kept some files away from Pandemonium?" Lilly paused from typing codes to post the inquiry. Unfortunately, she was only met with a blank stare from Beca and a questioning look from Thud himself.

"He worked only at Pandemonium," the fourth member of the group, thankfully, supplied an answer. "I already asked Beale's security about it, and Paul assured that Benji never left anything treasure-related with Clarence except from some protection. The media is constantly watching the man, and it wouldn't be good for his business if they dig up some dirt from his past. I mean, look at what's happening to the corporation now after all the kidnapping incidences; it's going downhill."

"Beale must know something more," Thud suggested.

"Look, he clearly just wanted to get rid of that goddamn treasure… 'cause the more Clarence knows about it, the more trouble for him and Chloe, and that's-"

"Let's just fucking go to Charlotte!" Beca exclaimed from out of the blue causing everybody to shut their mouths, stunned. She looked up from the extinguished cigarette butt on the ash tray to find CR pursing her lips on her with arms folded over her chest. _Chloe_. Just a single mention of the name could still trigger a thousand bombs in the horrible monster's supposedly callous heart. "Benji used to stay there with his grandparents before transferring to Georgia."

Surrounded by a glacier of silence once more, she pulled out another cigarette stick from her pocket, lit it up, and headed out of the door.

"What just happened?" questioned the big guy on a silly apron.

"Chloe," the old Phoenix replied with a huff. "The girl with the ladybug tattoo."

"Oh, her."

Lilly murmured mostly to herself, "Boss is clearly still in love with her."

"The club's jam-packed tonight," CR grabbed the gun next to the laptop to prepare to leave. "We'll be back before midnight, I promise. Until then, I trust you two are in charge of everything."

Lilly and Thud nodded their heads obediently and they watched the old Phoenix also disappear into the hallway.

* * *

"So who is it?"

As soon as the door presented an opening wherein her body could safely slid into, Chloe walked pass Fat Amy who was snacking on a large pack of _Doritos_, tossed her satchel bag on the couch, and met Jesse with a weirdly enthusiastic grin.

"Uh…" he nervously opened his mouth, unprepared for the unexpected high regard. "W-Well..."

"Yes?"

"Y-You didn't have to come over, you know."

"No, it's totally fine with me, Jesse."

"Job's not done," Fat Amy revealed flopping down into the couch and reached for her second _Diet Dr. Pepper_. "He just came up with the idea."

"I-I…" Jesse stammered followed by a quick forced laugh. "Okay, she's right… but I just thought you'd want to know. I didn't expect you to actually come over. I mean, I didn't think you'd care that much."

Yeah, she shouldn't have been. After all, it should have been just a phone number.

"Come," he tilted his head to the side and threw a quick glare at Fat Amy before escorting their employer to the work station near the dining area (more convenient for his Australian partner). He let Chloe take the seat and intentionally cleared his throat to ease the jittery feeling. "First off, Fat Amy cloned your home phone system."

"What?"

"I'm sorry. I know we didn't ask for your permission, but it's the only way we could do the job. You know, like in science, we needed some sort of a sample so we could trace it from there. It's not like we listen to your calls or something anyway."

"I don't like that Wilson guy who keeps on calling you," Fat Amy shouted from the nearby room. "He's a total douche, Chloe. I don't care if he's the son of whoever plutocrat his father is. That's why I blocked him. You're welcome."

Jesse groaned. "Fine, that happened. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Chloe chuckled after shouting back a 'thank you' to the Australian blonde. "I hate that guy too."

He nodded his head, relieved, and clapped his hands together to start the job. "So, basically, every time the... _ghost_ calls you, for a moment there, it becomes _concrete_, and so we put it on the tracking device to trace its location. The more frequent the calls the more time for us to locate and so the higher the chance to find it. We're almost done, but it worries me... because this number has been intended to be untraceable, Chloe. That's why it's a ghost. Whoever has been calling you _doesn't_ want to be found."

"Well, I just want to know who it is."

"We don't know that yet," admitted the IT expert. "But we know that the phone system is located right here in Atlanta."

And just like that, Chloe's face lit up again. So close.

"Yes, we can track the exact location… after a few extra work… but I'll have to discuss this with Stan first for your own safety."

"No," the redhead shook her head in an instant; rattled, she pulled him into the next room and shut the door for a little privacy. "Stan cannot know about this. He's going to ask a lot of questions that would be difficult to answer. You can't even tell Aubrey now too. If she asks, just tell her… it's a dead end street... _impossible_."

"But it's not. It's-"

"It's our little secret."

"What?" was all he could utter back in daze.

"Look, Jesse, I don't want them to know I'm going after… _whoever_ has been calling me. They would think that I'm going crazy again."

He opened his mouth to speak but only ended up producing a set of stutters. Something about the look on Chloe's face told him that the entire job was in fact a bad idea, and bad ideas at this point usually had something to do with a _dead_ Beca Mitchell.

"Aw fuck," he groaned as he realized the truth. "Y-You... You actually think it's… _her_!"

And it was the redhead's turn to vomit a spoonful of stutters.

"You think she's the one who's been calling you, right? Am I right, Chloe?"

"Jesse, let me explain."

"No! That's what's happening here, isn't it? You want to track down the phone number, find out who's behind all those calls, and you think that it's actually Beca. That's it, right?"

"Just hear me out first."

"Oh my god… Stan and Aubrey are going to kill me! They'd think I'm encouraging you on this. This is so not healthy for you, Chloe. Beca is dead, she's gone. You're not supposed to be chasing after someone who's never coming back!"

"Jesse, you just have to help me on this one."

"No, I can't do this anymore."

_"Please."_

"I'm sorry, Chloe."

Truly, Jesse was. He had this apologetic look on, bit his nails nervously, and quietly tapped his shoe against the floor. But there was nothing else he could do to help her cause anymore. And so she took a deep breath, nodded her head in understanding, and turned her heels to leave, apparently upset.

"Give me one good reason," Jesse demanded from out of the blue, blocking the door.

"I love her," she answered right away – no beating around the bush, that's just it. "And I would do anything I can to get her back."

And how could you say 'no' to that?

"Fine," he exhaled. "I'll try to find the specific location. But after that, it's over. When the sun comes up tomorrow, you've got to stop. Besides, any of this is not going to change the fact that… Beca is already gone… okay?"

Chloe slowly put on a smile on her face and threw herself on him for a friendly hug as a sign of gratitude. That's a good enough bargain.

"Whatever is happening in there I'm telling you, Swanson, you won't enjoy the wrath of ghost Beca."

With that, he hurriedly pulled himself away from the redhead in utter terror as Fat Amy's warning penetrated the wooden barriers and was quickly followed by a crunchy evil laugh.

* * *

Stan decided to focus on cutting his steak in a very classy manner just like how everybody else in this fancy restaurant especially when he could certainly feel Aubrey's eyes fixed on his every move. He had to look fine and not someone who lacked a glorious amount of sophistication… even though this wasn't at all a date, just a casual lunch between two friends. Yes, that's all it was.

"They will absolutely call you back," the Posen heiress told him referring to his recent job interview.

He chuckled at how ridiculous it would be, "They're not going to hire me, Aubrey. I don't have the necessary qualifications they need, and I kind of messed up that interview. I've never even been to school. The others vying for the job has a _real_ college degree."

"Well, it's their loss."

"When you put it that way I feel like a really important person here."

"You are," she proclaimed. "You are to me."

And he was supposed to blush at that. Other men did when Aubrey said words of endearment like that. But Stan Mitchell didn't. So normally, to impress, this would be the part where the young heiress should be insensitively going all vocal about being Posen rich, flaunting her family's majestic contribution to the economy, and primarily rub off to everyone's ugly faces that she had the capacity to pay for all their meals. However, she was too lost of words for that at the moment.

"Uh... this steak is really delicious," he tried to start a new conversation. "How's your... cashew noodles... and broccoli... and tofu?"

"Clarence is throwing this big party this weekend," she replied out of context and in all seriousness which was the right moment to feel tensed. "I know you loathe the man, but I'm hoping that we could go together."

"I don't know, let's ask Fat Amy. They received an invitation too."

"I meant like a date, Stan. Just you and me."

"Oh," he muttered as the message registered in his brain. This was always the hard part when there's a third wheel in a relationship including this, whatever this was especially when the third wheel was actually undetermined. "Aubrey, listen, I-"

"I like you," she cut him off. "Do you know that?"

He slowly nodded his head in response.

"And Fat Amy really likes you, too, you know."

"I know."

"Well, you're not going to get us both, _chicken_, so you're going to have to make a choice."

Stan stared at her intently just in case there was a touch of sarcasm somewhere in this conversation. In his dismay, Aubrey Posen only returned with one last condescending smirk, picked up her purse, and without any premature warning, marched out of the restaurant leaving the young Mitchell all by himself, completely startled. Okay, what the hell just happened?

* * *

"You can't tell Stan and Aubrey, okay?"

The scary authoritative aura just really didn't work well with Chloe especially with her soft voice and her goody-goody persona that came naturally even while driving an expensive shiny black and white Range Rover. Hence, the passenger at the back wasn't getting the hint at all.

"I can't tell because?" Fat Amy inquired.

"Just do what she freaking says!" Jesse chimed in with a glare.

"I'm just asking," the other reasoned out shooting back a scowl. "It's America. It's supposed to be a free country even for the Aussies."

"I don't care how much you owe him, but I will pay your debts to Richard Posen," promised the young heiress as her form of payment. "Just _please_ help me out on this and _please _don't say a word to Stan and Aubrey."

"Wow."

The pair of IT experts could only pick up their jaws from the floor at the shocking statement. They owe the man a fortune! They had to pay it back before he could even realize that a lump of his money had gone missing, and that could essentially happen anytime.

"Are you sure about all these?" Jesse had to ask. He wouldn't want to be taking advantage of this entire situation.

Chloe let out one long heavy sigh, turned to him, and nodded her head with a small determined smile. Okay, she was that desperate. Anything to get this job done; anything to find out who was the person behind the mystery calls once and for all; anything to get her dear Beca back, and she only had until sunrise - just a few more hours - to prove her intuitions right for one last time.

"Turn right," he instructed in conformity with what was displayed on his tracking device. "We're almost there."

The young heiress maneuvered the car as she was told, and soon enough, they were taken aback by the sight of a long line of people who were trying to get into this club they were not aware existed in the first place. Chloe pulled over at a nearby street parking and the three of them stared at the establishment in disbelief.

"This is it," announced Jesse. One look at the establishment, and he had already known that he made a big mistake striking up a deal with the redheaded monster. No, this whole idea was indeed a big mistake.

"Holy crap," Fat Amy muttered under her breath. "You have got to be fucking kidding me."

_Pandemonium 2.0_, the neon sign read. Oddly, the new name already sounded much cooler than the old one. The building itself appeared magnificent with its angular geometric architectural design. If that wasn't enough to impress, the special effects lighting gave the impression that the entire building was actually burning in fire. It looked like a fallen – no, a crushed giant phoenix that was bathing with flames; not dead, but still very much alive. Way to attract more customers than usual.

"It must be her," was all Chloe could pronounce.

"Who now?" inquired the passenger at the back.

Jesse put his tracking device away and turned to the redhead before any of this could go wrong. "Look, Chloe, we don't have to this."

"We had a deal," was all she said before climbing out of the car eagerly and marched towards the front of the long line; the rest of the trio had no choice but to follow her lead.

"Do you have VIP tickets?" a bouncer inquired, stopping them immediately.

Determined, the redheaded monster handed over three old Beyonce concert tickets with a generous amount of Benjamins secretly slipped in between. Her friends started freaking out – they could literally be thrown out or be mobbed by the rest of the clubgoers – but thank god, the big guy on a black shirt went on to unhook the rope stanchions to let them in.

"Did our sweet little ginger angel just bribe CeeLo Green back there?" Fat Amy asked as they entered the club.

"At least we got in," Jessec yelled back through the blasting loud music.

They walked through the glowing hallway and into a paradise. The place looked even better inside. Charli XCX was performing at the DJ booth and bodies were dancing everywhere, obviously having the time of their lives.

_[I got this feeling on the summer day when you were gone.  
__I crashed my car into the bridge. I watched, I let it burn.  
__I threw your shit into a bag and pushed it down the stairs.  
__I crashed my car into the bridge. I don't care.]_

"God, this is amazing!"

"Now what?" Jesse turned to Chloe.

"If this was the old Pandemonium, where can we find Beca?"

"Beca?" Fat Amy shot them both a puzzled look.

The brunet turned to her and tried to offer an alibi, "Let's just say… we're looking for someone… that… might… have the same… personality as Beca."

"Restroom," the blonde proposed easily. "I usually just find her there fucking some random chick."

"Good," he awkwardly held a thumbs up. Oh Beca and her old ways; Chloe didn't need to hear it. "Go check on the main bar, too. Chloe and I will check on the VIP areas. Just look for someone who could be Beca-like. Better if you could spot them with a device or something. Meet us back at the car maybe in an hour."

Fat Amy agreed and so Jesse went on to guide the redhead through the cruel waves of people. They took the time to search in every booth and room there was, not wanting to miss the target due to carelessness. They only got one shot. Unfortunately, each had neither Beca nor potential Beca in it. Chloe's little hope was slowly shrinking as time went by. The pocket PC, however, indicated that the target was right over there.

"If this is what I think it is…" Jesse's voice trailed off pointing to a _No Unauthorized Person Allowed _door.

He didn't have to finish the sentence; Chloe was already on the same page. Of course, there must be a secret underground facility. It had a major makeover and been relocated, but it was still Pandemonium. So the target must be down there; Beca must be there. Without even realizing, the redhead was already on her way towards the door. She was almost there until another bouncer stood in front of her.

"I'm sorry, but this is off-limits."

"Hey, I remember you!" Jesse recognized him as the man with beach ball arms back at the diner. "You almost killed her a few days ago!"

"What?" Thud questioned in surprise.

"You practically owe her something. We just want to check out what's behind that door."

"Go away."

"Just let us in, man."

Angered by the needless persistent behavior, the big guy angrily furrowed his eyebrows and sharpened his eyes as he grabbed Jesse by the shirt, ready to throw him out of the club any moment. Hence, Chloe hurriedly jumped in to save her friend. But he was too good at this – he held poor Jesse with one hand then caught Chloe's hand with the other. One glimpse of her skin, and suddenly, he froze.

"Let her go," Jesse demanded in a decaying bravery. "Or… I-I'll... d-do something…"

Strange as it seemed, the behemoth let her go and surprisingly was petrified much to the pair's bewilderment. Whatever not-at-all-scary threat Jesse had enforced was working.

"What do you want?" Thud asked with a glare releasing the little guy so Jesse could properly breathe again.

"D-Door," the old Phoenix stammered.

Throwing another quick glance at Chloe, Thud proceeded to open the door. It was supposed to reveal a passageway where an elevator should be awaiting at the farthest end; it would take them down to the headquarters of The Secret Society. However, it turned out it was just a plain wall.

"What is this?" questioned Jesse, bemused and disappointed.

"Nothing," the bouncer answered. "One way to say 'curiosity kills', I guess."

"Can we meet whoever owns this place?" Chloe suddenly requested. She wasn't going to give up just yet. _Nothing_, then it had to mean something.

Thud heaved a sigh then, half-heartedly, led them to the second floor, to a room intentionally labeled as _Private_ where Lilly was seated on the floor playing _Battlefield 3_ on her laptop. Jesse's tracking device blasted into a continuous beeping. The laptop; it must be the thing that's been sending him a signal. But it's just a harmless little laptop owned by a harmless human being. That couldn't be right.

"She owns the place," claimed the big man.

"What's up with the club name?" Chloe grilled him.

"She likes the old club so why not name it after that, right? Now, you two leave, or I'll seriously kick you out of here."

"Your system has been hacked," Jesse warned the Asian woman as a friendly gesture.

Unanticipated, feeling upset by the failure of this whole mess, Chloe ran out not caring for a second whenever her body frailly crashed into someone else's. She just needed to get out of this hell. Jesse also had to fight his way through all the obstacles as he went after his friend. He panicked a little when he lost sight of her in the pool of people, but relieved when he had finally found her back by the car… or maybe it wasn't because then she was crying her eyes out, breaking down at the side of the street. Really, this entire thing was a big mistake, not even a hug from him would make things feel better. Chloe was heartbroken all over again. It's like watching Beca die for the second time when the redhead had barely survived the first one.

* * *

Cynthia-Rose set her jacket on the table and sat on the bar stool in the Private room. Certainly, she was tired and the nervous stares from Thud and Lilly was even more agonizing.

"Where have you been?" the duo chorused, Thud's voice was mostly heard. "It's way past midnight! Where's boss?"

"Beca went home already," replied the old Phoenix. "She just dropped me off. North Carolina was a terrible waste of time. It was a trap, we were put on a loop. Benji knew somebody would go treasure hunting there."

"The girl with the ladybug tattoo was here," Thud broke the news immediately. There was no other way to say it.

Frankly, it was all CR needed to awaken her senses, feeling a little scared. She had always known; she expected it. One day, Chloe would come looking for Beca. They were her friends and she cared about them, but this time was _different_. The game was different. So firmly, she instructed, "Keep her away from the Head Phoenix. Beca cannot be informed about this."

And that's how the code was strictly implemented all the same. It still was _Fidelity to The Society_.

* * *

_Song: I Love It - Icona Pop ft. Charlie XCX (I know this song is ages ago, but I'm just really in love with it so...)_

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Pitch Perfect.


	5. Kryptonite

**_RobOverstreet: _**_Better days... that's the goal.__  
_

**_Rennie Laroche: _**_I guess it's a good thing you don't know where I live.__  
_

**_BeChloeFan01: _**_It's the real villain in the story._

**_asdfg:_**_ Uh... that's weird._

_**oilzz and stuff: **We'll get there. And yes, smoking is Beca's own version of sanctuary.  
_

_**avidreader: **I feel like writing a crappy version of Titanic. Like, honestly, the love story is tossed on the side but the main theme is actually finding the Heart of the Ocean.  
_

**_brittanysnodes:_**_ Beca will definitely kill you if we do that. Will it help though if I promise you it'll be a super happy ending?_

**_INSPIREEme:_**_ I just really love reading your review over and over again. It's overwhelming, but seriously, get some sleep, dear. I want you to live long enough to read the end of this story. I'm glad you enjoyed reading Stolen as much as I enjoyed writing it. :)_

**_Guest_**_ (Feb 23): Si Beca ang sabihan mo niyan. LOL._

**_Guest _**_(Feb 22): I like that too! :)_

**_ibetyouknowme:_**_ The word holds a sentimental value to both of them, I had to inject that. Glad you like Pandemonium 2.0. I was scared that people might think it's super corny._

**_FilipinoBlood:_**_ She will soon be happy, don't worry._

**_MysticFalls94:_**_ You knew there won't be a reunion... it's either I'm not much unpredictable anymore or you've already mastered my writing style. :) The burning Phoenix is actually a symbol for both Beca and The Society making a come back. It's like saying 'you can try and burn me down but I'm going to rise again'. Now about the title, this entire story actually started when I heard Stolen by Dashboard Confessional playing on the radio. The concept of Beca and Chloe's love story in Stolen is practically based on how I've interpreted the meaning of the song, but I thought it would be cliche so I added the treasure into the plot. So for the sequel, I thought it's only proper to use yet another song from Dashboard, and I wanted to continue with the one-word chapter titles so I needed a song with similar nature, hence Vindicated. From there, I tried to form the plot for the sequel. :)_

**_PurpleWedding:_**_ It's addicting._

**_itsmefiebs:_**_ I'm so sorry, I find that I can't give you a response without actually spoiling something, so I just won't say anything._

**_cxcxcx386:_**_ I'm flattered that you're even comparing me to Kay Cannon. Enough said._

**_madness2013:_**_ Well... I wouldn't say Phil._

**_badwriters: _**_Thank you so much! Usually, I have to go back to previous chapters just to make sure future plans would be consistent and coherent to the established facts. Can I just say I hate it when Jesse has to do something amazing though? Believe it or not, I try so hard to make it believable. (Maybe that's why I let Aubrey and Fat Amy bully him. I'm so bad.)_

_So for this chapter, there will be an interesting development about the treasure (for real) and frankly, I can no longer get through another chapter without Beca and Chloe together. I'm hurting too, you guys..._

* * *

CHAPTER FOUR: **Kryptonite**

Beca Mitchell used to be so good at this – getting drunk in a strip club and then _fucking _women. It was never a problem for her. In fact, it used to be one of the very few things that she truly enjoyed in this fucked up planet. So perhaps, maybe it's because it's been a different strip club. Or maybe it's because the girl was already getting too clingy. Or maybe it's because… no, not _her_ again. But maybe it was. Maybe it's still because of Chloe Beale, that redheaded monster.

If it wasn't her, why else would Beca be spending the next two hours at old Pandemonium's parking lot where they shared that first kiss, silently staring into space? Why else would the mighty Phoenix hid away in her Ferrari while she fought the temptation to use the ghost phone number Lilly created and call her old girlfriend again – just to hear her angelic voice as she croaked 'hello' or even a bit of her steady breaths? Whatever the reason, Beca was going to ignore such urge and then push it further away into the abyss behind her thoughts because it didn't matter. Not anymore, when she's the Head Phoenix.

So later on, she absentmindedly climbed the stairs of a timeworn apartment building until she reached the fifth floor, making a full stop right in front of the wooden door to her unit, and sighed heavily one more time. She realized that she hadn't actually slept in days, maybe a week. She spent most times killing people while treasure-hunting than acting like a normal human being.

"Good morning," she heard her neighbor's annoyingly chirpy voice from behind. "Home at 6am, huh? Since you're the silent type, I've never really pegged you as a party girl."

Beca never turned around nor bothered to give any form of response.

"You never showed up at Pandemonium last night. CR waited for you until closing time. And then I got home, I was worried when I didn't see your car parked. Getting busier? Thud said you have a hectic schedule these days, and Lilly seemed to agree."

Wordless, the brunette fished out her keys from her pocket, producing that jingling noise as she unlock the door.

"Well, if you're hungry, I can prepare breakfast for you."

Being her normally rude self, Beca replied to her friendly neighbor by lazily pushing her own door open, securing a cigarette stick in between her teeth as she entered her cage, then slammed the door close with a loud bang. There, she simply shut everybody out as usual. But who could blame her? The isolation was better, safer, and it made her stronger. It made her an indestructible monster.

* * *

In one of those very few moments that the two blondes actually got along, they could barely contain their fit of laughter as they occupied that narrow space on the floor next to the edge of Chloe's bed. Aubrey had a white little feather on hand while Fat Amy secured a bottle of pancake maple syrup in her own grip; together, they posted a harmless threat to the sleeping redhead.

_One… two… three…_ The Australian chick cautiously poured a small amount of syrup on the oblivious heiress' hand. Consequently, the young Posen softly tickled her best friend's nose with the feather, and so just as expected, the sleepyhead mechanically moved her hand to scratch the area leaving some syrup on her nose in the process. The pair of blondes quietly snickered as their victim carried on with her much needed sleep. At the other's signal, Fat Amy expertly spread a considerable amount of syrup on the same hand then Aubrey started drawing circles using the feather on her best friend's face. Chloe, still completely unaware of the danger, slapped the hand on her cheek and obliviously spread the sticky substance all over her face. That was when she grimaced in confusion, her eyes fluttered open to witness the clearly amused look on her friends' faces; realizing the prank, she frustratingly reached for a Kleenex to clean up herself, threw them an evil glare, then pulled the blanket over her head.

"Chloe! Get up!"

Cracking up loudly, the duo finally ditched their props and resorted to using their hands to pull down the covers away from the repelling body. Of course, they were met with some irritated grunts from the sleepyhead who found a brand new refuge under a large pillow.

"It's past noon and there's a big night ahead of us, Sleeping Beauty. Now get your lazy ass out of the bed."

"Go away," whimpered the redhead sloppily shooing them away.

_Beep… beep… beep… _An alarm clock went off at one corner in the room; Chloe groaned. _Beep… beep… beep… _There went the other at the opposite corner; she put down the pillow and rolled her eyes. _Beep… beep… beep… _Another stupid clock rang loudly; she ultimately decided to get out of bed and end the unbelievably annoying madness. _Beep… beep… beep… _The rest of the ensemble chorused that the rest of the galaxy could probably stay awake for centuries; that was the blondes' cue to station by the exit.

"None of these is funny," the redhead offered a generous sum of dirty looks to the pair of giggling pranksters when the hullabaloo was finally over five minutes later.

"Someone woke up at the wrong side of the bed."

"I woke up at the side of the wrong people!"

Worse, the blondes further responded with another fit of laughter much to Chloe's utter aggravation.

"That's it, Posen! I am _so _confiscating your keys!"

Oops, that's not something they would risk. Thus, hurriedly, Aubrey dragged her partner in crime away from the redheaded monster, skipping a couple of steps as they hopped their way down the stairs. Chloe heaved a long sigh and deliberately shook her head in disapproval as her friends' cry of victory infected the atmosphere.

"Knock knock," she turned to the door to see a timid Jesse standing there, an apologetic look displayed on his face especially for her. "Y-You okay?"

Chloe merely gave him a look before collecting all the stupid alarm clocks. No, it wasn't really the prank. She could handle them however intense the grave was. The problem was… her. She had to do her part of the deal. She was trying, trying to move on, finally. And it was supposed to heal, but she was just hurting all the same.

"You just have to be… m-more patient with them," the brunet spoke out when no answer came. "T-They're still going through some… weird withdrawal. They've successfully ignored Stan for days now. Just… let them have some fun, it'll stop eventually."

"I'm not okay, Jesse."

He met her lonely eyes and smiled sympathetically because those bright blue orbs told that it was entirely true. Maybe it wasn't his fault that Beca died, but somehow, he contributed to this recurrent heartbreak. He shouldn't have fed that dangerous hungry little hope. He should have let it die when he had the chance.

"Here," he retrieved an envelope out of his jacket to place on top of the nearest dresser. It contained a personal bank check duly signed by Chloe Beale herself. "I-I can't have this."

"But it's yours. It's the payment I promised."

Jesse shook his head courageously, "I'm sorry but I can't accept."

"I'll give it to Fat Amy then."

"I already told her we failed," he countered the plan. "She'll never know it but the real job was to… find Beca… p-prove that she's still alive and then bring her back to you… So obviously, Chloe, we failed."

"For the inconvenience," the young heiress insisted. "For your wasted time and efforts."

"In that case, let's just say I gave you a special discount. It's a very good deal because… it's basically free of charge. Even rich people like you sure could use it from time to time."

Chloe let out a chuckle. Jesse evidently wasn't going to back down on this one. He did everything he could to help, so the least she could do was to let it slide.

"Can I get a free hug too?" she inquired with a hopeful smile.

"A-As long as ghost Beca doesn't haunt me," he answered nervously before spreading his arms wide ready for the hug.

The moment Chloe wrapped her arms around him though, the blonde pranksters were back for another surprise attack – they splashed an entire bucket of cold water towards the unguarded pair for the final blow. Stan seriously had to make a choice soon!

* * *

Because the stupid pack of men just couldn't take a hint, Bumper Allen flipped the whole table just to make it crystal clear that he was indeed very angry. Another mission failed – they lost an entire team to the cops and a suitcase containing fifty million bucks. If they weren't short on human resources he would have killed all the Syndics present in this room right then and there.

"Train the new recruits yourself," he resolutely commanded his Right Hand. "Dude, I don't need a bunch of idiots in this team."

"Yes, boss."

Bumper straightened his clothes before sitting on his golden chair once more as soon as the table was rearranged for his delayed meal. The rest of the group looked on as he enjoyed a full Ron Swanson treat.

"Anybody else with news they want to share?"

A man possibly on his early thirties raised a hand and took a step forward. "Another Syndic was murdered yesterday in Atlanta, boss. Our men insist that some Phoenixes are responsible for it."

"Bullshit!" the Head Syndic slammed his fist on the table causing the white porcelain plate to jump a little matching the pack of recoiled men. "They don't even have a leader to run the fucking organization anymore! The Mitchells are all gone! So explain to me, dudes, why the fuck is The Secret Society still a threat to us?"

"The whispers are getting louder," Donald bravely answered. "The rumors are getting more convincing. They say the mighty Phoenix is back."

"The mighty Phoenix is dead," Bumper firmly stated eyeing all his men with his deadly eyes. "She died in that bomb explosion. Her family and friends buried her. She is now rotting in hell for all I care. So yeah, the mighty Phoenix is _dead_, understand? So stop using her as an excuse for all of your goddamn foolishness! If you could have been half the criminal that she was, we wouldn't be discussing any of these in the first place!"

"But what if it's true, boss? What if Beca Mitchell is in fact alive?"

That's it. The Head Syndic drew out his pistol and shot the curious man directly on the head; Unicycle's twin brother had joined him in the underworld. Just one Syndic, maybe Bumper could afford to lose one more guy, for the sake of humanity because then the world was suddenly one less stupid.

"Take him out of here," he instructed blatantly. "His bloody little brain is sadly killing my appetite."

And so in a hurry, a pair of men grabbed hold of the fresh corpse to drag it out of sight. Bumper took a big gulp of root beer then plastered his signature smirk on his face.

"Ah, don't we just hate stress all in all? Lighten up, dudes! It's just us now. When we find that treasure, we're going to have everything for ourselves. Even Clarence Beale will bow down to our wealth. For the meantime, why don't we help The Society finally lay down to rest, huh? Say, some kind of a euthanasia. When you spot a Phoenix, kill them. Paralyze their remaining operations. Destroy it in any way you can. This war is almost over, Syndics. And it will end with our victory."

Never mind that Bumper Allen could be arrogant and self-centered. After all, he was a great leader. He could commit his entire being to The Syndicate, and it's always a great advantage.

* * *

Beca stopped at the farthest hallway where the darkness could extend at its maximum with Cynthia-Rose trailing right behind her and then lit a cigarette stick as she leaned back on the grimy wall. All that was left to do was to patiently wait for Thud to lure the target into them. It could take a while, so why not play Flappy Bird for the meantime? Stupid thing, she never got past 13. It was seriously just a matter of time before her brand new communication device could get wrecked for the nth time due to paramount frustration. Lilly should really start stacking loads more for her boss. Or simply delete the game.

"Aw shit," she slurred against the cigarette between her lips as the ugly fowl hit the green post. And it wasn't helping her cause that she could feel a pair of eyes fixed upon her. CR was watching her intently, prying right into her very soul, digging in too deep for something; it was discomforting, if not off-putting.

"You're going to lose," said the mindful observer.

True enough, _Game Over _flashed on the screen once more, and Beca had lost her tiny sense of control. She slammed the electronic device against the floor shattering into broken pieces. Then in the silence that followed, there were only her, and CR, and the warmth emitted by the burning cigarette. But even through the obscurity, she could still ridiculously feel the pair of snooping eyes lurking around her being.

"Bumper happens to know how to play the game," the other revealed causing the Head Phoenix to turn her gaze anywhere else but the woman standing on the opposite side. "Fine, you don't have to talk, but I need you to listen to me, Mitchell. One thing I've learned from Fat Amy's TV habit is that people have pressure points… and it's a chain reaction. Yours happens to be Chloe. They can get to you through her, and if they have you, it'll be the end for The Secret Society. Bumper will surely grab that opportunity, you know that… Do you ever wonder why they call you 'the mighty Phoenix', why Phil believed that you're the best weapon? It's not because you're so good at this job, it's because you _don't_ have a kryptonite… Yeah, you're _not_ supposed to have a kryptonite, Mitchell."

Annoyingly, Beca didn't say a word. Instead, she inhaled on the cigarette before dumping it down the floor and extinguished it with her shoe. She searched for her friend's eyes through the dark sending her one of her infamous blank stares. There was nothing to read, but Cynthia-Rose quivered in fear. Beca was a monster, _effortless. _But it wouldn't be enough.

"Fidelity to The Society," the Head Phoenix muttered then much to the other's surprise, drew a knife and pitched it viciously to the side.

CR hastily reached for her flashlight and shone light upon the same direction – the target they'd been waiting for who had a gun on his hand was already sporting the knife in his throat; he was choking on his own blood while Thud stood next to him, stupefied, as he watched the enemy collapse to the ground. Fuck, that was so close.

"Yo, it could have been Thud!" she screamed at her boss, reprimanding.

"But it wasn't," was the only heartless response. The horrible monster walked over to the dying man who struggled to grab hold of her feet for dear life.

"S-Spare my life," the man was able to request. "I-I can help you… f-find the treasure…"

"What do you know about the treasure?" Thud, almost in automatic, questioned in behalf of his boss.

"B-Back to Basics… F-Find… it…"

"The fuck is that?"

The man opened his mouth to respond, but it was already his last breath. The grip around Beca's feet loosened as he unfortunately succumbed to death. No more life to be spared no matter what, so the mighty Phoenix bent over to retrieve the knife allowing more volume of blood to flow out of him and stain the floor.

"What did I miss?" Lilly arrived, even her panting was too quiet, holding on to the pocket PC device in her sweaty palms, but her face instantly lit up at the sight of a dead man. "Can I set him on fire? I have my lighter."

"Back to Basics," CR instructed although she was practically more than confused herself. "Find 'Back to Basics'… whatever that is."

Without warning, Beca quietly turned her heels around to leave.

"Hey, where are you going?"

Home, obviously. The night was over. The Head Phoenix, however, spoke no word to voice it out and instead, maintained her pace, no sign that she would stop for any reason to come.

"We have a new lead. Well, sort of. What are we going to do next?"

"Start by deleting the ghost number permanently," Beca, surprisingly, answered. "You should know that I am all in on this. Chloe Beale no longer mean anything to me. I will see you all tomorrow."

And with that, she vanished. She had disappeared into the dark, into the same hollow of pure isolation. The rest of the team helplessly looked into the invisible trace she left, swallowing all their terrors and doubts. It certainly felt like betraying a friend, but they needed the impenetrable Beca. Twelve million people were still counting on her. Besides, this was what she chose. She chose the code, and thus, there were sacrifices to be made. So at Cynthia-Rose's command, Lilly deleted the ghost number. One push of a button and that single bridge of connection came tumbling down.

* * *

The grandeur of Beale Manor once more glorified the world for the first time since its sole heiress abandoned this gigantic home. The banquet hall lit up its glamorous chandeliers in a yellowish bloom giving a warm welcome to the hundreds of guests invited for the evening. The string quartet filled the air with melodious songs in between the line-up of famous artists set to perform.

Jesse and Fat Amy consciously struggled to hide away their disgusted faces at the abundance of sophistication around them. It honestly felt like being surrounded by a hundred Posens. On the other hand, Stan remained awfully quiet on his seat while Aubrey attempted to at least persuade Chloe who purposely wanted to stay away from her father. The only one among the group who seemed to be enjoying the elite party was Ronie who sealed pledges of endowments for Barden Homes.

The pair of blondes, later on, joined a pair of cute fashion models on the dance floor making Stan Mitchell secretly cringe his nose in _jealousy_. That's when Chloe swiftly sat up in panic at the sight of her father fast approaching. Oh boy, how to escape from him this time?

"Chloe, would you like to dance?"

The offer, unexpectedly, came from Stan. Chloe turned to him, and they instantly made an agreement. So just before Clarence could reach the table, the young heiress gladly followed the old Phoenix to the dance floor leaving poor Jesse awkwardly forgotten on his own.

"Thanks," she exhaled, relieved, as Stan delicately placed a hand on her waist and the other took hers. Wow, he actually knew what he was supposed to be doing. "I owe you one."

And the young Mitchell responded with his ever charming grin. "I'll remember that. Still running away from him, huh?"

"Aren't you?"

"At least he's not my father."

He gave her this knowing look sending a pang of guilt to the young heiress. Yeah, nothing would ever change the fact that he was still her father.

"This is weird," Stan broke her bubble of thoughts with an adorable laugh. "You and me, dancing."

"You're supposed to be dancing with either of them," Chloe agreed by playfully nodding her head towards the blonde duo just a few meters away from them. "They're right, you know. Eventually, you're gonna have to choose or you may end up losing both of them."

"But I like them both."

"You must like one more than the other."

"I don't know," he shrugged a little. "With Fat Amy, I can be my true self. And Aubrey is so easy to talk to, all you have to do is… listen."

Chloe chuckled at how simple yet ridiculous he was acting towards the dilemma.

"I wish I can figure this out," his sneer was replaced by a frown. "This is one of the many things that I can admit my little sister… _was_ better than I am. At least she… _knew _what she wanted, _who_ she wanted."

Chloe let out a small smile. So she wasn't the only one struggling with using the past tense after all.

"Don't think," she advised. "Just _feel_… That roller coaster feeling… No matter how bad, you still never want to get out."

Stan quietly nodded his head in understanding letting the redhead savor that little spur of the moment with Beca in her head. She needed that, it was pacifying – the thought that one has ever loved somebody like that.

"You could have been the best sister-in-law I could ever have," he smiled at her sweetly when the music had faded to end.

As Chloe giggled at the old Phoenix's unusual display of adoration, a man in a fine navy blue suit appeared on the side.

"May I?" he politely asked Stan who was taken aback by the certain finesse but ultimately gave way. He then turned to Chloe, grinning, pulling her hands into the proper places so they could start dancing to the next song.

_[We watch the season pull up its own stakes  
__And catch the last weekend of the last week]_

Chloe died a little at the familiar melody. Just why the hell was the string quartet playing this sentimentally valued song?

_[You have stolen my heart]_

"My," the man spoke, almost gasping in great disbelief, fixing his eyes on hers as they waltzed to the music. "The tabloids finally stopped making up stories. It is true… _you_ are breathtakingly beautiful, Chloe Beale."

_[Invitation only grant farewells  
__Crush the best one of the best ones]_

Gorgeous, he undeniably was. He was _almost _as appealing as Stan; the bouncy dark brown locks, the pair of ocean blue eyes, the dose of creepiness, and the initiative of doing things without her necessary permission – maybe the song had something to do with it, but he reminded her of Beca Mitchell when Chloe was already desperately trying to forget.

_[You have stolen my heart]_

"I am tremendously flattered…" her voice trailed off to emphasize how much of a stranger he was to her.

"Benjamin McDouglas," he supplied what she demanded with a beam. Great, same initials too. "Call me 'Ben'. Let's drop the formalities, shall we? It would be such an honor to be your friend, Chloe."

"Future CEO of the McDouglas group of companies," she recognized the name from years and years in the business industry.

He chuckled, "It's going to be a long wait before I finally get the job though. My dad still enjoys his throne. For now, I'm stuck at the Social Responsibility department… which is wonderful by the way. I love helping people. Most businessmen think that they're another bunch of investment, but I think they're more than just an instrument for positive publicity."

_[I watch you spin around in your highest heels  
__You are the best one of the best ones]_

_Impressive_, she thought. When you had been living all your life in a high society where there were certain perspectives to abide with – yes, some of it might sound rather egoistic – being a radical thinker like this had always impressed Chloe. After all, not everybody was thinking like a Posen, or acting like a Tom Jacobs. Somewhere in this horizon, there were some people who could be genuinely humble.

_[You have stolen my  
__You have stolen my heart]_

"You should come see Barden," she told him freezing in place when the dance was over, completely enthralled and mesmerized. Barden was personal, but his close resemblance to Beca made it feel like she could trust him. "The kids there are lovely. You're going to love it… _Ben_."

Yeah, it was important that she called him by his name, and _only_ by his name.

"It's a date then," he winked at her as he escorted her back to her seat.

The entire table directed their eyes towards the redhead with questioning looks, begging for a hint or a preliminary explanation as to why she had a surprise company for the evening. Chloe, however, bid Ben a simple goodbye and sank into her deep thoughts ignoring the rest of the world. _Date?_ Was it just a mere expression or was it really going to be a date? Either way, it already felt like _cheating_ on Beca. But it shouldn't be, right? It shouldn't be when the mighty Phoenix was said to no longer come back.

"Ladies and gentlemen… Mr. Clarence Beale."

The business tycoon walked up to the platform taking over the microphone from the emcee and then grinned back to the applauding crowd.

"I hope everybody's drunk," he started, and people surely laughed. "Kidding aside, I want to thank all of you for gracing my home tonight. I hate to ruin such a good party, but I just need to make a few announcements, if you don't mind… I am happy to announce that the Phoenix Corporation welcomes my good friend, Richard Posen, to the Board."

The Posen patriarch stood momentarily to be recognized, relishing the sounds of applause echoing around the banquet hall; Aubrey elbowed her best friend excitedly for the pleasant surprise - they're on the same team, finally.

"And," Clarence continued earning everybody's ears once again. "I want everyone to know how much I love Phoenix… but sadly… I am no longer capable of heading the team."

That last sentence ignited distressed whispers and murmurs, and Clarence easily had his daughter's full attention.

"And so I must do the right thing here, do what's best for the Corporation. First thing on Monday, I will be officially stepping down as the Chief Executive Officer… That's all, thank you. Now _please_ enjoy the evening."

But who had the decency to? Paul even had to cue the band to start playing a blissful country music while his boss marched back to the presidential table to keep the party running. The buzzes though were already glued into the scene. It appeared like only Richard Posen then was keen to celebrate more than ever. Finally, he had the chance to steal Phoenix, to be the most powerful man in this game. Who knew Clarence Beale was also meant to be on the verge of collapse?

"Chloe, I swear I didn't know this would happen." Aubrey turned to her best friend nervously, pleading for her to believe. "My father is a total dick. You know he's worse than a slutty bitch!"

But the redhead was already leaving her chair, hurriedly making her way out of the banquet hall without any word. She didn't hate Aubrey, she cherished her best friend. It's just that her emotions were too much to handle, she couldn't say anything. As a matter of fact, she could only burst into tears and she couldn't let the rest of the world see her this miserable. That's her life – Phoenix was her family's history, present, and rightfully their future. And her father was going to let it all go just like that?

"Chloe," she heard her father's voice as he followed her into the hallway. "Honey, wait!"

Clarence grabbed her arm as soon as he could to force a stop, but his estranged daughter angrily shook it off.

"I'm sorry," he tried to tell her.

"Mom built that corporation, too."

"I had no choice, Chloe!"

"You always have a choice, dad!" she yelled at him in angst. "You're just making the wrong ones!"

Defeated, he muttered in regret, "I lost the airlines."

"Shit," was all she could say and slapped a hand on her forehead as she fought the impulse to cry. "H-How did all of these happen?"

"People are not as stupid as businessmen think they are. Who am I to offer them security when I couldn't keep my own life out of danger? It's all about the criminal circus we had to go through. The media went out of hand. The Board had lost their confidence on me. The police are also on my tail now. They're trying to find a strong set of evidences to tag me with black market activities."

"Why didn't you tell me you're in trouble, dad?"

"You're shutting me out, Chloe!" exclaimed Clarence. "We haven't seen each other for weeks, and you haven't talked to me for months!"

"You killed Beca!" she cried in a string of firm whisper. "She died trying to save your goddamn treasure."

Her father lowered his head in embarrassment and sighed, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"No... I am."

And she gave him one last look before pulling herself together to leave. She was going to abandon the manor once more; her father helplessly watched his precious treasure walk away from him all over again.

"You might not need me anymore, but I do need you, Chloe."

But what she needed was sanctuary. More than anything or anyone, she needed Beca - this very instance. Where was the mighty Phoenix when Chloe needed her so badly? So badly, just her mere presence would have been more than enough, a simple assurance that shades of black could still turn into palettes of bright yellow. Hence, the young heiress dug into her purse as soon as she hopped into her car searching for her phone among all things. Before she knew it, she was scrolling over the contacts to find Beca's name, calling the ghost number for an attempt at redemption.

_"Your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please check the number and try again."_

"Damn it," she desperately called in again, her tears staining her cheeks as time ticked by. "Come on, Beca. Just this once. Please."

But the intercept message was the only response. Chloe weakly released the phone out of her grip and weakly leaned on the steering wheel. More than a year had passed, and it was finally starting to sink in. Beca Mitchell was dead. Beca Mitchell was already gone beyond her reach.

* * *

Had she known that she would be awaken by a ringing door bell just a few minutes after drifting off to sleep, Chloe would have never went to bed. However, all the complaints had gone away when she opened the door and came face-to-face with the one and only Beca Mitchell. She didn't look like a ghost, she looked _real_. And she didn't say a single word which made it more believable. The mighty Phoenix simply grabbed the stunned redhead by the face and kissed her.

It was sweet and gentle and romantic, the kiss - exactly like the first time only it felt a thousand times better. Chloe waited more than a year for this - to breathe the same air as her love, to touch her skin in her palms, to taste her lips and crave for the rest. It's happening. Beca was right there standing dangerously too close to her. Chloe would never let go of her again. Unfortunately, Beca broke what was supposedly an eternal kiss to embrace her favorite redhead.

"I love you," she whispered into Chloe's ear, and it wasn't a lie.

Just as Chloe was about to say it back, everything was liquefied, swirled away into a pool of fantasies. She shut her eyes open and panted. She was still all alone in the Yellow Room with Beca to hold her close. Goddamn it, it was only just a dream.

* * *

_Song: Stolen (originally by Dashboard Confessional) - String Tribute_

_You probably hate me now because there's no reunion yet (the dream must be frustrating). But we're almost there, people. This is the last blow for Chloe, I promise. She won't be so broken again... and it won't be because of Ben, don't worry. BeChloe all the way! :) And I'm sorry about injecting the idea of 'pressure points'. I think I'm having Sherlock withdrawal._

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Pitch Perfect.


	6. Shadow

_**Moxain: **Can't really blame you._

_**Whatizthiz: **I like Ben. I have yet to find out what to do with him though. _

_**charliepollock1357: **A very big thanks for waiting.  
_

**_NightmareWalker:_**_ Come on, the ending was the best part! Okay, I get it, I'm evil._

**_Guest_**_ (Feb 28)__:__ That's exactly the point, dear. :)_

**_cxcxcx386:_**_ She won't be. She's getting better._

**_Rennie Laroche: _**_We'll get there. Eventually._

**_avidreader:_**_ Oh I can't wait to share you, guys, Back to Basics. It's kind of cool in my head, I just hope it will transcend in the story._

**_itsmefiebs, AlphonseAl:_**_ At least they were together in the dream, right? :)_

**_brittanysnodes:_**_ Chloe can try to fight for it, but the Board would never let her. At this point, as long as you're a Beale you're bad for the business. And don't worry about Beca, she prepared herself for it. She knows exactly what she's doing._

_**MysticFalls94: **I can't simply bring Beca back just like that. It'll defeat the entire purpose of Chloe moving on.  
_

**_Natali1798:_**_ Hmm. One last time? Maybe?_

**_asdfg, madness2013, Guest_**_ (Feb 27), **purplefurball**__:__ I'm so sorry..._

**_BeChloeFan01: _**_I can totally feel the frustration._

_So at this point, I just really want to thank all the crickets out there who still read the story. I did warn you that it's going to be different from Stolen. But really, the reunion can happen anytime now - if I could just spoil it to you. I think, creatively, this is my favorite chapter so far._

* * *

CHAPTER FIVE: **Shadow**

"Chloe!" This persistent reporter from the local newspaper who had been much of a stalker lately called out, running after the young heiress who was surrounded by bodyguards, holding out his audio recorder just in case she would accidentally slip out a few statements for a news story. "Chloe, just a quick interview. How do you feel about your father getting demoted? What will happen to Phoenix Corporation now that Richard Posen is both the CEO and the Chairman of the Board?"

Chloe was securely escorted out the television studio to the Range Rover alertly waiting for her.

"What about the allegations that he's been running underground activities? Is your father financially troubled? Sources are saying that he will soon be filing for bankruptcy. Any comment on this?"

"Miss Beale has to go," was Kimmy Jin's only firm response before trailing behind the redhead into the car and then shut the door close to his face.

"Wait! Just answer a question or two!"

A couple of men in black suits stood in the way as the car soon drove away just to make sure that the reporter wouldn't pull off a last minute crazy trick; these people always did. Just how did he even manage to learn about Chloe Beale's schedule? When it was already deemed safe, the pair hopped into the black luxury car waiting for them to join the rest of the convoy.

"Unbelievable," he puffed and threw his hands in the air, dismayed. Still, nothing for a worthwhile story. "One day, Chloe Beale. I'll squeeze out a statement from you."

He then put the recorder away and turned around to leave only to make an abrupt halt at the sudden presence of a man with muscular arms in the size of beach balls – he had a cup of coffee on hand while he peered down at him. He wasn't even trying, but the mere appearance rapidly sent great terrors to the man of average height.

"They call me Thud," the stranger introduced himself after taking a sip of hot coffee.

The reporter furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. What did it have to do with him?

"That's the sound it makes when I throw people over my head and then they land on the ground," revealed the big man like a casual piece of information.

Taken aback, the poor guy swallowed the lump of fear stuck in his throat.

"So if you don't ever wish to hear it, I strongly suggest that you leave Chloe Beale alone. Are we clear?"

The other automatically nodded his head in truthful agreement, his face adorned with beads of sweat.

"Excellent," Thud flashed a grin then began to walk away, fully satisfied. The girl with the ladybug tattoo had at least one less problem on this planet to be burdened with from then on. What? He was just trying to help. It wasn't his business, he could get killed for it – for meddling, for being a half loyal Phoenix – but something about it felt like it was the right thing to do. Chloe was still special whether or not his boss would ever admit it, so consider it a favor to a very good friend. Anyway, CR and the Head Phoenix never had to know about it.

* * *

She really tried to fight it – the urge of being such a judgmental bitch – but Ronie simply could not let the opportunity pass. Here was Chloe who looked chirpier than the last occasion, and the evident difference between then and this historic day was that she brought along this guy who danced with her during the party. Oh, was this the one who would dare to steal the heart of her daughter's so-called one true love or whatever kids these days would call it? Stupid Beca, if she could just change her mind.

He was shorter than Stan, but still tall – probably five feet and ten inches in height – compared to Beca's… Never mind, he swiftly dominated that round. Gorgeous face, indeed. But Beca was more than attractive and appealing. _The List_ could certainly speak for itself. Silky smooth dark brown locks and a pair of ocean blue eyes; eugh, he's basically a copycat! _Chloe didn't like a bit of him_, Ronie concluded. She only liked the Beca in him. Yes, it's still Beca. There was nothing to worry about.

"I believe you two haven't been introduced to each other yet," her ears were starting to listen just in time for Chloe's voice. "Ronie, this is Benjamin McDouglas. His family operates several manufacturing companies in the country… Ben, meet Veronica Grant, the never-tiring Chief Directress of Barden Homes. She's done a lot of amazing things."

"Please call me Ben," he grinned. So he's into handshakes when the mighty Phoenix was popularly known for her rude blank stares. Handshakes are too mainstream anyway.

Ronie shook his hand but noticeably refused to offer a nickname. They're not that close enough yet.

"It's nice to finally meet you, ma'am."

Fine, he's very polite. Typical cultured person. Could be boring at times.

"Any friend of Chloe Beale is welcome to Barden," Ronie plastered a smile all for the redhead's sake.

"I've heard a lot of good stories from Chloe," he said, looking over at the young heiress standing next to him. Did he ever not display his enchanting charm? It's completely _unnecessary_. "I must say, I'm already in love with Barden. This seems really nice. This is…"

"Charity?" the Chief Directress proposed, injecting a little sour taste into the conversation, not being able to behave herself any longer. "I mean, let's face it, most people come here as if the kids are some kind of a mystic perfume that could make their grubby images magically look squeaky clean… Chloe was the very first one who treated these people otherwise."

There had to be something off about this guy. He couldn't be _that_ perfect. Even Chloe, intrigued, waited for the visitor to salvage his dignity.

"I-I was supposed to say 'home'," Ben clarified, maintaining his poise with a pleasant smile, not showing any trace that he was taken aback at all by the change of mood. "This is home. For _me_, it feels like it."

Why in the world was he so good at picking up the right things to say?

"That's good to know," was all Ronie could utter after all.

"Thanks for letting us in, Ronie." Chloe put on a smile of gratitude before another state of awkwardness would ensue.

"Anything for you, Chloe," the brunette nodded her head delightfully. Indeed, anything for Chloe Beale. "Now why don't you two meet the kids in the playground? They're having a playtime right now. I just have to check on something then, uh… I'll be joining you soon enough."

"Brilliant," Ben agreed, excited for the day ahead, and turned to the redhead beside him linking a friendly hand to hers without her consent. "Shall we?"

Chloe didn't see that one coming, and somehow Ronie rejoiced a little when the redhead's face had fallen into a frown. It only meant that even when she was trying to, the young heiress wasn't entirely over Beca just yet. In fact, she even sneaked a glance at her _dead_ girlfriend's mother as if asking for permission. Unfortunately, in contrast to how she really felt because her callous of a daughter had to play dead, Ronie surrendered a reluctant nod along with a small smile as a form of blessing. And so, Chloe, half-hearted, kept her hand in his grip. Goddamn it, this guy actually had a chance of winning.

"Am I really that much of a bad company, huh?" Ben jokingly inquired when they had been strolling halfway through the building and the redhead still didn't make any reaction to his supposedly witty stories.

"What?"

Of course, her mind wasn't with him the whole time. Chloe was having a mental panic attack; he might have thought she was being ill-mannered. Luckily, he found it very amusing instead and eventually chuckled.

"If it bothers you a lot that I call this a date, then we can throw the entire thing out of the window."

"I-I'm sorry, Ben," was all she could say. The itch to pull her hand away from his was increasing; it just didn't feel right. Nonetheless, she kept it right in place because she was done crying and waiting and hurting. It was the proper time to leave the pathetic Chloe behind.

"All this time I thought you're a fake. I couldn't believe how much people adore you that even the press couldn't paint dirt on your portrait. And then when I danced with you… I was so shocked to see it's true. Believe it or not, Chloe, you are the most beautiful girl I've ever known. And it puzzles me how, at the same time, you have the _loneliest_ eyes I've ever seen… So tell me, what happened to you?"

Chloe looked up to check on his face, to meet his eyes. He was dead serious, patiently waiting for the concealed story to unfold.

"I fell in love," she answered in all honesty. More than anyone, she surprised her own self that she was giving him a piece of her heart. Maybe it's because of the dark brown locks and the ocean blue eyes. "And then I lost her. Just like that."

"Her," he repeated just to make sure that he had heard it right.

The redhead nodded positively. "_She_… was the best I've ever had."

"Well, I will never try to replace her," he promised. "That would be cruel… and plain stupid. She sounds irreplaceable anyway. Right now, I just want to be your friend, Chloe. I just want to try and hopefully be that person who could make you feel… not lonely anymore. So if you ever need somebody, you should know that I'm here for you."

"Thanks," escaped from her mouth while her eyes stare at him in awe. He seemed too perfect that he seemed surreal. "Thanks, Ben."

"Chloe!" suddenly rang in their ears as soon as they had exited the building.

Chloe shifted her gaze and found cute little Maverick by the open field, grinning wildly and waving enthusiastically specially for her. Just as thrilled, the young heiress dragged the visitor all the way to meet the adorable kid and the rest of the group in the playground. Almost immediately, the kids turned their heads and gathered around their beloved redhead.

"Whoa, wait!" she snapped before she could end up forgetting that she actually brought someone along with her. "Guys, meet Ben."

"Hi, Ben!" everybody cooed followed by adorable giggles, mostly from girls.

"Why don't you all get acquainted with him?" Chloe suggested, encouraging the new guy while keeping the crowd interested. "Ben will be around more often."

The brunet subsequently picked up a ball lying nearby. "Who wants to play a game?"

The kids erupted into a loud 'me' together with hands raised up in the sky as the young McDouglas directed the group to the center of the open field to start a fun game. Of course, he was good at kids too! Little Maverick, however, didn't follow the lead. He simply stood in place looking not so equally fond of the new guy.

"Hey, Maverick," Chloe bent over to check on him. "What's the matter? Don't you want to play?"

"Uh…" he rambled for a moment chewing on his lower lip until he could search for the right terms for his speech. "I'm just confused and worried."

Then the redhead was confused and worried. "Why? What's wrong?"

"I just thought if Becky sees you with Ben, she might not be happy about it."

"Beca?" was all she could say in a faint whisper of surprise.

The young fellow nodded his head to confirm. "She is so quiet again."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, she is hardly even happy these days. She won't tell me, but I think she misses you. And if she sees you with the new guy, I think it will make her feel... sadder. So could you do me a favor, Chloe? Please don't let Becky see you with him. I worry about her, you know… Thanks."

And Chloe was left absolutely dumbfounded, not even noticing that Maverick had already gone off to join the others. His words were meant to be innocent but the implication of the statement was all too powerful. The candid use of present tense as if he was naturally telling her that her dear Beca was in fact alive… just when she had successfully convinced herself that the mighty Phoenix was already irrevocably dead. The problem was that kids never lie, and she was too vulnerable to ignore the bait.

Gathering whatever was left of her sanity, Chloe stood up and ran her eyes wherever they could, franticly searching for anything, any sign of, any form of Beca Mitchell, be it a ghost or one that was actually alive and breathing. All there was, however, was Chloe's very own shadow. And so she laughed because she realized that she should have known nothing was about to change. It's as if that's all there ever was – Beca was only a shadow of memories, a phantom this point forward. The mighty Phoenix had turned into something apparent to sense but with no substantial existence, and that's all she would ever be since that day she died. With that in consideration, Chloe rationalized that maybe little Maverick just really missed his old friend too, the old friend who made him feel like a brave little warrior.

* * *

"How the fuck did this shit happened?" Bumper screamed at the line of mortified men even pushing them violently in tremendous affliction.

"We did everything according to the plan, boss," Donald meekly answered in behalf of the bunch of failures. "The team had the road for themselves. All Syndics were out on the field, stationed on every quarters of The Society. We kept an eye on every Phoenix out there. Nobody managed to leave their turf."

"Then how do you explain to me that our guy is now dead?"

"I-I don't know, boss…"

The Head Syndic exhaled sharply and closed his eyes momentarily to extract the growing tension out of his system. Stress, so much stress.

"Do you know how important that transport is, dude?" he posted a rhetorical question. "I don't care about the others, but the guy that they were supposed to deliver here knows how to find the damn treasure. He's the fucking key to that fucking treasure! I'll trade all of you shitheads for him! We need that fucking information!"

"T-There must be someone else who is after the treasure."

"Then what are you still waiting for, idiots?" Bumper shot them loads of death glares more. "Find. Whoever. They. Are. Fast."

Rattled, the assembly of Syndics rushed out of the room desperately moving away from Bumper's wrath. Must find who killed the guy. Must find who stole the information. Must retrieve what was stolen.

* * *

Beca rested her feet on top of the table and leaned back to her chair, not taking her gaze, even for a second, away from the screen. _Tap…tap… tap… _Just a little bit more. _Tap… tap… tap…_ and the game was over. The screen displayed her Flappy Bird score of 12, two points short from the minimum possible high score she's been dying to achieve. Fuck it. She angrily threw the device away – CR and Lilly had to duck in an effort to save their faces – and a bottle of Johnnie Walker broke as it took the deadly impact.

"You do realize that _that_ game is not meant for you, right?" Cynthia-Rose scowled at the brunette who had an apparent ridiculously bad temper.

"Here, boss," Lilly, sounding inaudibly as usual, nevertheless tossed another communication device to the Head Phoenix.

Subsequently, the young Mitchell turned to shoot her old friend her very own rendition of sticking her tongue out – the ever annoying black stare.

"If you're actually paying The Secret Society for every communication device you break, we won't need the fucking treasure at all. We would make a fortune out of you alone. We could be richer than Bill Gates, Mitchell."

However, Beca was already back to playing, ignoring all the more the rest of the galaxy. CR shook her head one last time in annoyance then resumed her work with Lilly. Benji and whatever 'Back to Basics' meant, there must be some sort of a connection somewhere when all the Syndics willingly risked their lives that night in order to assure one man's survival. It was quite an attempt, but the plan was not maintained in secrecy. If only Beca wasn't too impatient, and waited at least for a useful interrogation before slaughtering the guy.

"That Bumper dude is fucking hilarious," Thud came bursting through the door, heading directly to the bar to get a drink. "He still hasn't figured it all out."

"What is?"

"First of all, that his greatest nemesis, is actually alive."

"That's good."

"Our intel said that the Head Syndic believes there's another party involved other than The Secret Society. He's seriously sending his men to a search party."

"At least things are still working in our favor. As long as Beca is dead for them, that means we can freely move in the background. We are the unseen dark shadows. We continue with this play as well as crack the lead, then this game is all ours… Incredible plan, Mitchell."

Of course, it was Beca who designed the plan. She didn't kill herself for nothing.

"Wait a minute," CR held up a hand in behalf of the IT expert whose voice was incapable of being heard. "Lilly found something."

Thud almost spit out the liquor on its way down his throat while even the indifferent Beca Mitchell paused from playing to pay attention to the announcement. One year had passed, and something big was finally about to happen. Lilly was murmuring words to a very attentive CR, explaining the unlocked lead based on the data displayed on the laptop screen. A few minutes more and the old Phoenix slowly turned towards the rest of the team, a fulfilling smirk sitting on her lips.

"Lilly put all the accounts together. Looking closely into Benji's whereabouts during his last few months, there's a pattern. All those times, he had been secretly travelling to Savannah… This could be it, people."

"I don't understand," confessed Thud. What's in Savannah?

"It could mean than Benji kept his old files someplace else," the Head Phoenix elaborated. "Pandemonium wasn't safe enough anymore, and it would put his master in danger if Benji left them with him."

CR nodded her head in agreement and ultimately concluded, "Back to Basics must be in Savannah. We could be one step closer to the fucking treasure."

* * *

It wasn't a surprise at all when another shattering sound echoed in the atmosphere. Chloe, however, still let out a heavy sigh at the picture of mess forming in her head. She would have to clean it up later.

"That was not our fault," Stan shouted from the other room.

"I-It was the Force," Jesse's voice automatically followed in a defensive tone.

Giving Stan and Jesse each an authentic lightsaber toys as random gifts in order to feed their fan boy feels probably wasn't a very good idea after all; and the redhead was already starting to regret it. The duo had been literally playing for long straight hours, invading every room there was in the house, breaking nearly everything upon careless contact, and the loud buzz that the weapons produced was growing eerie to the senses.

"Boys, brownies are ready."

The young heiress looked over from the kitchen to see them still engaged in a combat, their lightsabers glowing up the dining room.

"Coming, Chloe."

It was obviously a consensus lie, and so she scoffed and shook her head in surrender. Boys with their silly toys. Taking a deep breath, she fetched the plate of brownies and a pitcher of lemonade from the counter and started to move out of the kitchen.

"Watch out!"

The warning was abrupt just in time to give her reflex a millisecond to duck and miss the pair of lightsabers that was about to hit her on the head. Stan and Jesse were rightfully apologetic about it but much to her dismay, the playing still carried on.

"Come on, Padawan," Stan taunted his opponent sporting a mischievous grin on his sexy pair of lips. "Is that all you've got?"

"I'm not a Padawan! A Jedi master I am!" Jesse replied as he poised to make another attack only to be deflected by the other Jedi wanna-be.

Chloe took it as a cue to simply leave them alone and just let them be. They would stop when they get hungry – that was always the perfect ending for occasions like this. And so she proceeded to the patio to join Aubrey and Fat Amy. It was a relief that they were still getting along, not trying to drown each other in the swimming pool, although at the same time, it felt awkward in a way. If Stan could make a choice soon.

"And that is how torrent works," the IT expert ended her lessons leaving the Posen heiress in complete admiration. Wow, it was very astounding considering how extremely rare it usually happened that even her own best friend had her mouth hanging open.

"So what you're saying is that I can practically download everything I want… for _free_?" inquired Aubrey as she stared at the laptop screen.

Fat Amy nodded her head as she reached for her first two brownies for the night. "You got it, mate."

"Are you sure it has _everything_?"

"Does a bear shit in the woods?"

"Does it have _Casablanca _though?" the blonde heiress challenged. "It's a movie from the 1940s, for your information. This torrent thing most probably doesn't have the classics."

"I told you, it fucking has everything!"

"Alright, alright!" the other held her hands up and rolled her eyes. "I'll give you a list of things to download tomorrow. I don't have time for these kinds of stuff."

"It comes with a price," joked the Australian.

"A hundred bucks per download," offered the young heiress, then paused for a moment, afraid that maybe she was being cheap. "Wait, would that suffice?"

Fat Amy had to retrieve her jaw from the floor in shock. A hundred dollars for each download? Of course, it would suffice! The paycheck from the blonde bitch would surely be as sweet as the delicious brownies that Chloe baked. Yeah, she was really getting the hang of cooking.

"So, Chloe..." Aubrey chirpily turned to her awfully quiet best friend as she poured lemonade into a glass. "Where's Ben? I thought you would invite him over."

Chloe grimaced in confusion. "Ben? Ben McDouglas? Why would I invite him over?"

"You know, 'cause he's _clearly_ into you and you two were _waltzing_ back at the party and you're actually leaving the house now to spend some time with him. Chloe McDouglas... not bad."

"We're just friends," was the redhead's firm response.

"Oh that sounds familiar," the Australian chick chimed in munching on another pair of brownies. "Where in the world have I heard it before? Ah, show business. That's what they always say. Freaking liars."

"But we really are _just_ _friends_," insisted Chloe.

"Did you clarify that to Ronie when you brought Ben along to Barden?" Aubrey questioned knowingly. "It's not like you're not allowed to date anymore, Beca's gone anyway, but it's pretty much of a big deal when you've been such a pathetic ass for over a year then suddenly you're going out with this guy and parade him to your ex's mother."

"Ben and I _don't_ go out," the redhead made it crystal clear. "We go to Barden, and that's all about it. And Beca's not my ex, Posen, we never broke up. She just… died, you know. I-It wasn't her choice to leave."

Her best friend rolled her eyes and mumbled, "Same thing."

"I'm sure Ronie won't mind," Fat Amy assured after taking a big gulp of lemonade. "Sooner or later, you really have to move on anyway."

"But I'm not-" Chloe started out with a strong conviction but stopped herself midway. She almost blurted it out, that she wasn't really moving on after all, and then realized it was everything the others would never want to hear; they would never understand. Fat Amy was right though. Eventually, she would have to move on. It would take time, probably a really _long_ time, but eventually she would.

"Are you okay?" asked her best friend.

Speechless, the redhead slowly vacated her seat and started walking back to the house. The pair of blondes exchanged baffled looks at the unforeseen turn of events.

"Chloe, where are you going?"

"Out," was the only bland response. "Don't worry, I'll be back."

"But we're about to start with the meeting!" exclaimed Aubrey, but her best friend was already out of sight.

"And we're going to coerce Stan to play strip poker!" the other blonde added in all honesty.

Stan who just arrived at the scene immediately frowned at the plan, "W-What now?"

"And by the way," Chloe was back at the door already wearing a grey Cashmere sweater and black pants instead of the previous casual tee and denim shorts. "I'm taking some of the brownies."

"Don't you fucking touch those brownies!" the Australian blonde instantly erupted in a vulgar protest, but the redheaded monster had already disappeared out of their sight once again.

* * *

Holding on to the box of brownies she brought, Chloe rehearsed a big smile one last time before nervously ringing on the doorbell. She wasn't even supposed to be standing here at this doorstep this late at night with no valid excuse except from the _gut-feeling_ that she should be here this very moment. The idea of running back to the car as fast as she could, leave, and pretend it never really happened just popped in her mind when the front door finally creaked opened. Fuck, too late to change her mind.

_[Rescue me  
__Come on and take my heart]_

"Chloe," Ronie breathed out in disbelief.

"Hi," replied the redhead with a shy smile, so far off from the big one that she had perfectly rehearsed several seconds ago.

"What a pleasant surprise!" the brunette exclaimed, even letting out a chuckle, because it really was. "Come in, come in."

_[Come on, I'm lonely and I'm blue  
__I need you and your love too]_

"Make yourself at home, honey. Can I offer you something?"

"No, thanks, Ronie."

Chloe took a seat on the couch where she used to spend all those days with Beca while Ronie walked over to the turntable located at the far corner to lift up the tone arm away from the spinning record; she would have to continue the music afterwards.

"I hope I didn't interrupt anything," said the young heiress when the other was again visible to her sight.

"Of course not," the hostess assured, shaking her head as she sat on the chair to the right. "I actually just had dinner, and I was just listening to some music. Well… same old, same old stuff."

"In that case, I brought something for dessert. They don't taste anything like my omelet, I swear."

Chloe eagerly held up the box of brownies that she had prepared. She knew it was good, a present that's right for someone she truly held dear in her heart. The gracious hostess gladly accepted the gift with a laugh. Oh god, Chloe's omelet. Waiting for nothing, she opened the box, picked her first brownies and ate it with delight.

"Yum!" Ronie let her mouth savor the caramel flavor. "Chloe, this is absolutely delicious! I see the cooking lessons really paid off, huh?"

The young heiress chuckled and nodded her head, "If I want to continue living on my own, I needed that."

"There's always take-out food," the brunette pursed her lips before picking up another brownies. "The invention of take-out food and delivery is the _best_ thing that ever happened in history. It saves time and keeps my stove clean. There's actually a decent Chinese takeout somewhere here, and pizza never gets old, right?"

Her guest laughed at the entirety of the statement. How it was always fun to hang out with Ronie.

"Still not talking to your father?" she started asking though. "He called up this morning to ask if you were going to visit Barden today. I mean, if you were talking to him, I assume you would tell him about your schedule yourself or at least let Kimmy Jin share it to Gail."

Chloe lowered her eyes to avoid Ronie's gaze, "I'm a 24-year-old grown woman. He doesn't have to treat me like a baby."

"Ah, kids. You never really get how this works, do you? You think parents are only made to be needed by their children that when you've grown up into an independent person, you think the job has already been done. We need you too, you know. Parents need their kids in order to live an imperfect yet fully-satisfying life."

"You're being weird," the redhead couldn't help but comment as words of wisdom escaped naturally out of Ronie's mouth causing the hostess to snicker in understanding; that was out of character. "I just want to say I'm sorry, Ronie."

"For what?"

"I'm sorry about Ben. I'm sorry for bringing him over. That was so uncalled for."

Getting on the same page, the brunette put on a smile to put the young heiress at ease, to assure that there was nothing to be sorry for. She was not mad or anything. Well, she was scared, but it wasn't Chloe's fault.

"Benjamin seems like a great guy," she admitted. "He's like a male version of you."

"But Beca…" Chloe's voice trailed off. Was there anything more to be said? 'Beca' seemed to be more than enough.

"Beca is dead," persuaded Ronie. "Chloe, she's gone. You have to move on now… and moving on doesn't mean walking away from Beca, alright? It only means that you're still going to be happy even without her."

Convinced, the redhead sighed and nodded her head compliantly along with a small smile. "I'm trying to move on. Really, I am. But I will always love Beca, Ronie. There won't be any time that I'm not going to miss her. And I want you to know that."

_[-'cause I need you by my side  
__Can't you see that I'm lonely?]_

All of a sudden, Fontella Bass was singing again, and Chloe intuitively turned around to check on it, a baffled look painted all over her face. Ronie, on the other hand, secretly heaved a sigh of relief when it was certain that the redhead only saw an innocent malfunctioning turntable.

"I shouldn't have left the record spinning," she called for the other's attention. "Plus the tone arm is kind of loose. That happens with a _very_ old turntable."

Before Chloe could give out a response, her ringtone blasted in the air.

"It must be Aubrey," she hypothesized then rolled her eyes in annoyance when it was definitely her best friend calling. "I have to go, Ronie. I'm sorry. She's totally going to kill me if I don't leave now."

Chuckling, Ronie stood up as well to show her guest the way out making sure to give her a warm hug before the young heiress could head back to the car. She even waved goodbye as Chloe drove off.

"Coast is clear," she locked the door and returned to her seat. "You can come eat brownies with me now. I saved some for you."

Sluggishly, the mighty Phoenix emerged from right behind the couch where Chloe had been sitting for the past few minutes – they were never that close since more than a year ago. Ronie ate another piece of brownies as she followed her daughter's moves with a pair of quietly mocking eyes. Beca took a seat and shoot back a blank stare as if nothing happened.

"Your girlfriend came for a surprise visit and suddenly you don't know how to make a graceful exit through the window. You almost destroyed my turntable, young lady."

The notorious brunette simply sat there, mute.

"You've been hiding behind the couch all along, you could have touched her already. Oh your back indirectly on her back… how romantic!"

Still, Beca appeared unaffected.

"It really bothers me how you can tolerate her enduring the pain of not being able to be with you. Have some mercy!" Ronie knew she might not get an answer, but she was going to post the questions anyway. "Tell me, how does it feels like to hear her say all that? Aren't you scared, Beca? Do you honestly think that she would keep waiting for you? She's finally grasping the idea that you're dead, and so any moment now, she can grow tired of you. You do know that, right?"

"I know she can," muttered the young Mitchell. "...I just hope she doesn't"

"So remind me again, _please_, why I still have to lie to her."

"Because her heart is no place for a monster like me."

Gasping and shaking her head in a combination of great disappointment and utter frustration, Ronie leaned back to her seat, filled her mouth with as much brownies as it could possibly hold, and showered her cold-blooded daughter with child-like glares.

* * *

_Song: Rescue Me - Fontella Bass_

___Okay, I know it's a drag and such an agony waiting and waiting for that highly anticipated reunion... but I really like how it's going so far, and it's very important to me that Chloe gets to restore herself first. I mean, she's not just some fictional character to me. When I write, I can feel her emotions too, and I bet having Beca back would be more heartfelt when she already thought she'd lost her. Anyway, we're going to have a really fun party next chapter. I hope to see you all there. :)_

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Pitch Perfect.


	7. Surprise

_I really didn't expect to get this much of reviews. Thanks, guys!_

**_purplefurball:_**_ It's easier to break someone's heart than fix it. Trust me._

**_Guest_**_ (Mar 4): Thank you so so much! :)_

**_shadowx n_**_ **shadex, Rennie Laroche**: I wonder if you're best friends._

_****__Guest__ (Mar 4): That I can totally promise._

**___Crabapplekid89:_**___ Honestly, I've considered that, but I thought it's not really about giving up, just simply moving on. Although I've drawn some inspiration from it. I guess I can put it in my profile instead._

**___sherralotz:_**___ I wanted to capture the feeling of losing someone you really love and at the same time the process of, perhaps, growing up to accept that things like that happens._

**___avidreader:_**___ Come on, who doesn't love them?_

**___oilzz and stuff:_**___ I love to tease! LOL._

**___airdr12: _**___Opo naman. :)_

___****__Guest__ (Mar 2): Welcome to the party!_

**_____PitchPerfectLover:_**_____ Had I known I would be writing a sequel, I would have find another way to include Stacie in here. I really loved her character in Stolen. About Ben, I still have to figure out what to do with him. So far, I call him 'the back-up plan'. LOL. By the way, it's nice to see you back, cricket! :)_

**_____RobOverstreet:_**_____ So a little back story: Beca constantly pays visit to her mother and one time, Maverick saw her and found out that she's alive. So let's just say, everytime she goes to Barden, the kid gets a chance to spend some time with her. I'm sorry I couldn't find a way to incorporate that in the story. Also, I wanted to put it in a surprise. You know, just when Chloe had grasp the idea that Beca's dead, he would casually tell her she's not._

**_____AlphonseAl, _****_Guest_**_______(Mar 2)_**_____: _**_____We'll get there, dear.______  
_

**_____Natali1798: _**_____If I'm ripping your heart out then I'm probably writing this story properly. :)_

**_____asdfg, amused, Guest_**_____ (March 1), ______**LOL**:______ LOL._

**_____madness2013:_**_____ I love Ronie!_

**_____badwriters:_**_____ Thud is a cutie, but his humongous size covers that up which is funny for me. Ben will be... you'll know._

_____****__Guest__ (Mar 2), **itsmefiebs**: One update coming up._

**_______Moxain:_**_______ I'm just smiling while reading your review. I don't know why._

**_______MysticFalls94:_**_______ We don't call it a roller coaster ride for nothing._

**_______NightmareWalker:_**_______ At the end of this chapter, I hope you don't find me._

**_______BeChloeFan01:_**_______ Will you still smack me if I give you a chance to help me out with something? I may need a favor._

_______Gosh, I can't wait for you all to read this! It has got to be my favorite so far! Not let's party..._

* * *

CHAPTER SIX: **Surprise**

"What the H-E-double-L are you doing here again, young lady?"

Ronie put her hands on her hips and put on an angry scowl to give some sense of authority. Her notorious daughter, however, deliberately ignored the effort as she flopped into the chair intended for guests and placed a black gift box on top of the table.

"How many times do I have to tell you that you _can't_ just come barging into Barden whenever you want?" the Chief Directress scolded pushing the pair of black boots off the table.

Beca shrugged her shoulders a little as an attempt for a decent reply.

"It's bad enough that Maverick already knows that you're alive!" exclaimed Ronie. When would mothers learn that unresponsive daughters meant it's the end of a boring conversation? "If he says something and people actually believe him, you know I won't be able to do anything to fix that!"

The mighty Phoenix absentmindedly nodded her head for the sake of it. Yes, she was at least responding which contrasted with her rude personality.

"And it's my birthday today! Don't you dare ruin my birthday, young lady! Yes, I know that's the only reason why you're making this silly ways of responding to me. Your friends are throwing me a _not_-so-surprise birthday party. That means they'll be here any minute, so unless you want to blow your cover, you may leave now. I'll just see you at dinner, I reserved that time for you, remember?"

The young Mitchell slowly directed a blank stare at her mother.

"And stop doing that to my secretary! You're giving her the wrong impression! Oddly, she thinks it's your way of _flirting_ with her, and now she has a crush on you! God, I may have to fire her sooner or later. It may be the only way to stop her from letting you in without my necessary permission."

Because she was growing tired of it and honestly, she was already running out of ways to show that she at least gave a damn about the whole situation, Beca let out a heavy sigh and sank deeper on her chair.

"Beca!" her mother shouted in frustration. "For the love of God, say something!"

So the notorious brunette took a deep breath and muttered, "Can't a girl come and greet her mother a happy birthday and bring her a gift without getting the third degree?"

"Aw Beca."

Eventually, Ronie warmed up to her daughter's _extremely_ rare state of not being rather cold about everything in this planet. At least the horrible monster still knew how to care, and that's the best birthday gift so far. The older brunette wore a grin as she pulled the black box closer.

"So what do we have here?" she inquired, curious and excited. "Is this Joffrey's head?"

The expression on the Phoenix's face demonstrated the confusion stirring in her brain. Who the fuck was Joffrey?

"You don't get it," Ronie waved a hand then proceeded to untangle the golden ribbon to open the box. "Well, I didn't expect you to prepare anything at all."

"My team started giving me gifts to give to you," admitted the cold-blooded monster with a sense of irritation while her mother went over the contents of the box. "I didn't know people still do this during birthdays, or the fact that people still make a big deal out of it… Your favorite perfume from CR."

"Perfect."

"Thud bought you a portable player or whatever it's called, said so you can bring your lame songs with you everywhere you go."

"I know you're the one who added the word lame on it, okay?"

"And the lighter's from Lilly."

"But I don't smoke."

"Neither does her so it makes sense."

"I'm sure I'll find a purpose for it," Ronie concluded in kind acceptance. "Wait a minute. Which one's from you? There's nothing else in the box, young lady."

"I collected everything and put it in a fucking box!" replied the young Mitchell with much indignation as if her contribution was the greatest yet offensively being disregarded. "For your information, mom, I had to learn how to tie a fucking ribbon too."

"Glad to know that the color gold doesn't kill you," her mother held up the golden ribbon alongside a mocking smirk. "But watch your mouth. I don't want the kids to pick up something from you."

Rolling her eyes, Beca pushed herself up from her chair then turned towards her mother this time with an apologetic look painted across her face. Something about it exposed that she didn't really come over for a merry birthday celebration as the celebrant had thought all along.

"I won't make it to dinner," she revealed the catch.

Letting out a long sigh of dismay, Ronie asked, "Can't you take a break from that treasure-hunting? Just for today."

"We finally have a reliable lead this time, mom. I have to go to Savannah to check on it."

"So I guess you only came for this then." The older brunette paused as she pulled her drawer open and retrieved the old renaissance key her daughter had entrusted to her for safekeeping. Ronie stared at the key for a moment, envied its irrefutable significance, before handing it over to Beca. "About time for you to make use of it."

"Thanks," mumbled the mighty Phoenix. "You've been a very big help to me, mom."

The Chief Directress couldn't help but chuckle when the horrible monster had gotten out of character again. "Off you go, young lady. Be careful, alright? I need you alive no matter how much of a Wednesday Addams you are."

"I'm the mighty Phoenix," Beca pointed out as if it was an assurance of survival.

"But you're still my baby," teased her mother.

Letting out a sigh mixed with a pinch of reluctance, the cold-blooded killer machine walked around the table to envelope her mother with a hug. "I came because I love you, okay? It's your first birthday since you came back to us, and I want to be part of that. So… happy birthday, mom."

"Aw Beca."

With a big grin plastered on her lips, Ronie hugged her daughter tighter than ever because if the mission turned out to be a trap, it could be the last time that she would be with an alive Beca. And it's the kind of a birthday present she would never dream of receiving.

* * *

The remaining few items owned by Clarence Beale was carried out of the door by two men distinctly in black suits to be transferred in a much smaller room somewhere in the Phoenix Tower. The enormous office intended for the Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation had officially turned into a world ruled by Richard Posen. He stood by the large window overlooking the beautiful cityscape of Midtown Atlanta; the dream was finally happening. He had the entire Corporation under his full control, and the sinister smirk just wouldn't leave his lips for that.

"Dad?" his daughter's voice infiltrated his sweet moment of victory. "Can I head out now? I have a very important appointment today."

The Posen patriarch slowly turned around to see her standing timorously by the main wooden desk; her head slightly lowered, her teeth silently chewing on her lower lip, one hand clenched on the strap of her bag while the other was nervously balled into a fist. This was a very uncommon picture of Aubrey Posen. As a matter of fact, there was only one person in this lifetime that had enjoyed the pleasure to witness this from time to time – her very own father.

"Straighten your back," he commanded, or more like making judgments about her, circling around her for inspection. "Chin up… relax your shoulders… be proud and confident… You're a Posen. Make sure everybody knows that."

"I-I know the drill," she stammered her words.

"There's no drill, Aubrey. It's just the way we are. Superiority is what _defines_ our family."

Richard made a halt and his sharp eyes were especially directed towards the young heiress. Aubrey knew it was time to recoil in silence and swallow hard what little remained of her decaying courage.

"So," the new CEO of the Phoenix Corporation walked over to his chair, settling down, and enjoying the surge of power that came with it. "What can you say about my new office?"

She discreetly took a deep breath as she opened her mouth to answer, "It's... nice."

"Well, Clarence must have enjoyed it all those years. But it's mine now, and I won't let anybody else take it away from me. Your mother has already moved to my old office in our _old_ company, you can have her old one if you want. You should be learning how to run a business, Aubrey, and quit hanging out with poor and disgusting people. It's only a matter of time before we start running a global empire."

"But I don't want to be anything like you, dad," she was able to whisper before she could even bite her tongue in apprehension.

Taken aback by the sense of insult, Richard threw a dirty look at his daughter. "That's what you get from hanging out with Beale's daughter, isn't it?"

"Her name is Chloe, dad… and she's my _best_ friend."

"You _don't_ need friends!" he angrily exclaimed what he thought was the most obvious thing in the planet. "All you need in this game, Aubrey, are competitors and what you do with them is crush them into tiny little pieces. You don't share. Don't be friendly. _Always_ be aggressive and superior. Just grab everything you can. Show no mercy. Chloe Beale is _not_ your friend, you understand, Aubrey?"

Left with no other choice, Aubrey lowered her head once more and made a small nod as she whispered, "Yes, dad."

"Very good," Richard found the reason to display a fatherly smile. "Now you may leave."

_Finally,_ she thought. Aubrey hurriedly turned around to search for the door and make her most desired exit. She couldn't stay another second in the same room with her father. She would either break down into tears or she'd literally go insane.

"You're carrying our name," Richard reminded. "Don't forget that. Be a Posen all the time, Aubrey. Make them respect you."

But the sound of that last statement just didn't sound right. Suddenly, the young heiress just couldn't take it anymore. She stopped right by the door feeling the anguish growing in every vein in her body. So with every might she had been storing deep in her emotions, she turned around once more to face her jackass father. Okay, maybe she had gone completely insane.

"You don't _impose_ respect, dad," she told him as calm as possible – standing straight, chin up, proud and confident. "You have to _earn_ it. And you don't earn it by stealing other people's accomplishments. I know it's you. You're the one controlling the media so Mr. Beale could maintain the dirty image, taking advantage of the kidnapping fiasco. You have been manipulating the Board of Directors into losing their confidence in him, to abandon him, and then convince them to root for you for this position. Am I right, dad? You know, all my life I'm scared of you because you always make me feel like a total failure. But I _can't _respect you. Truth is… you disgust me, dad. And if _this_ is what defines us, then I don't want to be anything like a Posen. I'm not a thief. And I'm more than just a stupid heiress. I pity you, dad, because I have friends, unlike you. Frankly, they make me a better person than you will ever be."

Caught with his mouth hanging open in shock, Richard remained speechless. How dare his daughter speak to him like that! Nevertheless, Aubrey gave him one last look before proceeding with her delayed exit. Who cared if she was surely going to be reprimanded for everything she said to the Posen patriarch? She was always being reprimanded anyway. More importantly than that, it was a pleasant surprise. She felt truly free and happy after years and years of imprisonment; she just couldn't wait to see her friends.

* * *

The lone hall at Barden Homes was specifically decorated for such special occasion. There was an entire buffet table by the window, party balloons of various colors were scattered everywhere, and the ensemble of people were up on stage below a huge banner quietly waiting for the celebrant to arrive. A few minutes later, the silent excitement and anticipation in the room grew even more when the Chief Directress sporting a blindfold around her head had stepped into the room with her secretary to guide her towards the right spot. _One… two… three…_

"Happy birthday, Miss Grant!"

The kids burst out in a lively chorus of cheers and applause including Chloe, Stan, Jesse, Fat Amy, and practically the rest of the Barden staff. Ronie's face beamed in delight and a half image of shock. This would have gone a lot better if she had never known about the plan beforehand. If only Jesse didn't blurt it all out when Ronie only casually asked two days ago. Way to ruin a surprise, Swanson! Fortunately, the celebrant agreed to keep the plans in secrecy.

"Swanson, get the cake!" Fat Amy immediately ordered, and the guy rushed to where the rest of the food was arranged to perform his task. "How could you forget about the cake! Jesus Christ!"

Stan had to wait in line behind the battalion of kids to hug his own mother. "Happy birthday, mom."

"Thanks, honey," Ronie reached for her tall son's face to plant a kiss on his cheek.

"Happy birthday, Ronie," Chloe came in to give a warm hug as well.

"Thank you, Chloe. I know this whole thing's your idea."

"All those sleepovers were actually worth it," Stan supposed when the redhead didn't air any complaint regarding the fact that the boys destroyed almost everything in her house. "And, mom, Chloe actually got you a really nice gift. It's a brand new turntable… which _I_ helped her pick."

"An _official _girlfriend of yours could have been a very much appreciated gift, you handsome jack-A-double-S who wouldn't take a pick between two amazing girls," the celebrant playfully squeezed his face so hard that his mouth was shaped into fish lips in spite of his muffled protests. Oh how could he still look so adorable midst that silly picture!

Speaking of _potential_ official girlfriend for Stan Mitchell, Candidate Number One finally arrived at the party with her chauffeur carrying additional treats for everybody and a special gift for the Chief Directress. She gave Ronie a quick hug along with her birthday greeting before throwing herself impatiently to her best friend leaving the other three utterly baffled by the sudden show of affection.

"Hey," was the only way Chloe could start her response, letting out a few chuckles at the pleasant surprise, but found the decency to hug the blonde back when it didn't end. "Who are you, imposter Aubrey? What did you do to my best friend?"

"Chloe?" Aubrey spoke in all seriousness and showed no indication that she would let go of the redhead any sooner.

"Uh… yeah?"

"You're my best friend in the whole wide world. You're the most important person in my life. I don't care if Stan's listening to this right now, but I am certain that you're on top of my list of favorite people on earth. I promise."

The other three laughed altogether at the extraordinary pronouncement.

"What's wrong with you today, huh?" Chloe had to ask.

And the Posen heiress shook her head almost immediately. "I'm just really really happy right now. And I want to share this moment with you… 'cause that's what we do, right? You should know I will never do anything to hurt you, Chloe."

"I know," the redhead said softly, gently rubbing her best friend's back because it felt like Aubrey was actually going to cry any moment. "Come on, silly. We're here to party! It's Ronie's birthday!"

"It's Ronie's birthday," the blonde repeated to herself in realization, quickly regaining her poise for the occasion.

As if on cue, Candidate Number Two held the microphone over her mouth to gather everybody around for the blowing of candles. Publicly, she summoned for Jesse with loud and demanding 'hurry up, Padawan' on repeat causing the poor guy to panic even more. Plus, the huge chocolate fudge cake consisting of three layers was really heavy that even the food trolley was having a truly difficult time. Nonetheless, everybody patiently waited. Really, it was just a few meters more – just a little bit more – when Jesse had lost control and balance, and as destiny would have it, the food trolley tripped to the side and the entire birthday cake went tumbling down leaving everybody slack-jawed in utter surprise. Nobody dared to breathe after the collective amount of gasps.

"Uh…" Jesse's voice trailed off while his trembling hand fretfully scratched the back of his head. "C-Come to think of it, w-we should have just gathered around the cake instead of bringing it over to the group… Yeah, t-that could have been a much better idea."

However, the damage had already been done. There's no more cake for everyone.

"You had one job, Swanson," muttered the Australian blonde on the microphone. Quite honestly, she was trying so hard to calm herself. She wanted to taste that cake so bad! It looked so delicious, but then it's gone. "One H-E-double-L of a job."

"I'm really sorry," was his sincere response along with an apologetic and very embarrassed expression. Yeah, way to ruin a birthday party, Swanson!

* * *

Beca drove down the road in what she had been convinced to be the middle of nowhere despite of the assertion from Cynthia-Rose that they were still travelling within the bounds of Savannah, Georgia. The woods gave this creepy feeling and the location was so remote from the rest of the city that the entire scenario looked like a scene ripped out straight from a horror movie. It was like they were a pair of local tourists seeking for some kind of a mindless adventure and then any moment, a family with cannibalistic behaviors would come appear somewhere into the picture for the mere purpose of slaughtering them _ferociously_ using an old and rusty chainsaw.

"Nobody said about a top-notch hotel," CR pointed out to induce mostly herself. "I can't really blame Applebaum when the guy had to conceal a treasure from the rest of the world."

The Head Phoenix smoked on her cigarette for one last time before throwing it out of the window.

"We've been travelling for fifteen minutes now," the other checked on her watch. "If the old man back at the store was telling the truth, then we're almost there. I just hope he didn't give us a bum steer or god forbid what you gonna do to him."

Beca decided to speed up a little more at the information and soon enough a view of a cabin had finally come into sight. Before long, the black Ferrari pulled over at a short distance from the main door. The driver switched off the engine and both Phoenixes looked on the wooden structure. It appeared normal. It was rather simple, not glamorous or fancy in any way.

"Behold Back to Basics," CR pronounced letting out a long sigh.

From an ordinary man's perspective, it was only a rectangular prism with a roof, or in its simplest terms, an abandoned cabin in the middle of the woods. The mighty Phoenix, however, had a different point of view.

"Keep your guard up," she had to remind her teammate.

"Of course."

"Now let's go get that fucking treasure."

They both climbed off the car. Cynthia-Rose maximized her senses to get a feel of the unfamiliar surrounding just in case danger was vigilantly lurking around while Beca only had eyes on the front door. For fuck's sake, please be _it_ already!

"Should we knock?" CR asked, unsure, when they had reached the doorstep.

Obviously, the old renaissance key was not intended to open this door, but if this was Benji, it shouldn't be that easy to simply enter the cabin. The mucky _Welcome _mat they were standing upon was starting to get to Beca; it had to mean something. Benji was expecting, and the only logical thing to do was prepare for the arrival of his uninvited guests. Nevertheless, it seemed like the safest way to enter the cabin was the conventional way which was through the front door. Thus, the Head Phoenix reached for the knob and _very _slowly in a cautious manner, she began to turn it open. It felt strange as her hand continued with her moderate pace. There was something odd about the weight of the knob - it was kind of heavy in a light kind of way - yet she had to keep going. _Click_, she ultimately heard at the end of the turn and had instantly figured it all out.

"Move!" Beca pushed Cynthia-Rose to the side and moved herself just enough and just in time to miss the speeding bullet intended to kill off any intruder.

"What the fuck just happened?"

They barely even had the time to catch their breaths when from out of the blue, a large area of the doorstep mechanically dropped down, and in the absence of a surface to hold them up, the two bodies descended along into the pit. Luckily, the mighty Phoenix had the right presence of mind to grab hold of the edge of what's left of the floor and quickly snatched her friend's hand.

"I'd fucking kill Benji if he was still fucking alive!" CR yelled out her anxiety.

"Hang on," said Beca while she racked her brain for a brilliant plan, helplessly watching her own fingers gradually slid off from the floor. It was already a miracle that she could still hold on to it actually.

"Oh I'm not going anywhere," the other guaranteed in between the line of sarcasm and the tragic truth. Where else would she go in this unfortunate circumstance? Foolishly, for an additional dose of bad decisions, Cynthia-Rose let her eyes looked down to what was anticipating for them below. There was nothing but pure darkness which made it more disturbing. The fear of the unknown – both enigmatic and fatal – was more than terrifying. "Uh… Mitchell? Yeah, don't ever let go of me, okay?"

"I'm gonna have to let go of you," warned the mighty Phoenix all the same much to CR's utter aggravation.

"That's exactly what I told you not to do!"

"Now make sure to grab my feet."

"What? Wait!"

But the notorious brunette had already let go of her hand. Cynthia-Rose could hardly process anything when her weight had naturally dragged her further down once more. _Happy thoughts! Pixie dusts! Fly! _She had never been this distraught in her entire life. _Grab the feet!_ _Grab the feet! _And that was all she was so sure to accomplish during those crucial seconds.

"I'm alive," she mumbled to make her own self grasp the fact, looking down at her feet still dangling in the air. "I'm fucking alive. And you're the worst, Mitchell."

All of a sudden, she could feel her body moving up. She turned her head up towards Beca and the mighty Phoenix, then with both hands in use, struggled to pull them both up. Good thing it was Cynthia-Rose who she chose to bring along to this mission because if it was Thud, they could just forget about the whole thing and die in peace.

A few moments more, Beca's upper body was already back at the ground level, and using what little remained of her strength, she had to pull herself up even more dragging along the human luggage desperately clinging on her feet. When the danger was finally over, the mighty Phoenix traded her tough image in order to feebly collapse on the dusty floor and went on to catch her own breath. She instinctively put a hand over her breast pocket just to make sure the key was still safely secured in there next to a packet of cigarette.

"You're actually pretty heavy," she told her teammate in between gusts.

Panting, CR apologetically nodded her head in admission. Then as if it was some sort of a practical joke, the doorstep slowly went back to its original place, covering the death trap on the ground, leaving the old Phoenix completely exasperated.

"Seriously?" she turned to Beca and gasped, shaking her head in disbelief. "Okay, that was _not_ funny!"

The other stood up and shrugged her shoulders in response. What would she say anyway? So back in her normal self, the mighty Phoenix walked back to the door which had been decorated with a large crack courtesy of the bullet that almost killed them earlier. She kicked the door down not caring anymore if another danger was waiting at the other side of it; she had enough for the day to even put her off.

Compliant to Beca's previous hypothesis, they were met with a shotgun directed towards the door, its trigger clearly connected to the knob with the use of elaborately employed strings. The door mat had certainly lied, they weren't welcome at all. What they didn't expect to see, however, was the emptiness of the cabin interior. There was nothing there except from various items each mysteriously covered with black cloth. The mighty Phoenix already had a bad feeling about these. She had easily hated Back to Basics in all honesty.

"Do you think the treasure may be in one of these?" Cynthia-Rose curiously uncovered an item.

"No!" Beca, sensing it was another booby trap, dashed towards her teammate, pushing her away from the item until they stumbled on the floor. True enough, a mouse trap designed to hammer down human beings almost killed the careless Phoenix.

"Holy shit!" was all the other could utter, shaking off the feeling of a mini heart attack built in her chest. "What the fuck did Benji build in here?"

"Just… stay alert," the mighty Phoenix coached. "And yes, the treasure might be in one of those."

Both looked around the cabin and heaved a long sigh of remorse. There were more than a dozen of mysterious items carefully covered with black cloth. Seemed like the only way to find the treasure was to expose all of them, and they could possibly die even before that could happen. It was going to be a long day for the pair of Phoenixes. It would be one hell of a ride on the death train. It was basically a real-life Cabin in the Woods where they had the chance to choose the way they die.

* * *

"Maverick!"

Chloe walked over to the brave little warrior sulking by the door, a sunny face on display and an obviously delicious cupcake on hand specially intended for the little man weirdly isolating himself from the rest of the party.

"There you are," she bent her knees to level with him. "I haven't seen you join any of the games. Fat Amy prepared really nice prizes for everybody. But you have to play, of course."

"Maybe later," was his only meek response unintentionally disregarding the redhead's efforts.

"What are you even doing here all by yourself, huh?"

"I'm waiting for Becky."

Again, there was that innocent statement and the innocent look upon his face as he began to eat the cupcake leaving a mess of frosting mostly on his nose. Chloe, for a moment, was taken aback by the idea – the growing belief that the mighty Phoenix was still there – but she was done waiting for nothing and so she put on a smile for the little warrior who was brave enough to even consider that his dead friend would arrive at the party.

"What makes you so sure she's coming?" she had to ask out of harmless curiosity.

"Because Miss Grant is her mom, right? And it's Miss Grant's birthday, so she should come and spend the day with her."

Chloe chuckled at the notion; that made sense.

"Besides, I want her to see me play musical chairs because she doesn't think that I can actually win it. Then I'm going to give her my prize so she doesn't ever forget."

The present tense was in use again.

"Look, Maverick." The redhead gently grabbed him by the arms with a positive look on her face. "I know you miss Beca. I miss her too. I honestly wish she could be here with us today. But Beca… she went somewhere far far away. I don't know how far it is because I've never been to that place, but I know that it's very very far from here. It's so far that there's no way she would… ever come back… Maverick, Beca is gone."

It was weird, _totally_ weird, that the words were coming out of her own mouth. It was the same words Chloe had never thought she'd say more than a year ago. But maybe that's what she should have done in the first place – let the words slip out and the truth to sink in.

"But she's not," the kid insisted with more conviction than the last time.

Uncertain of what to do next, Chloe maintained her smile and wiped the frosting off his face with a handkerchief.

"Maverick!" Stan came rushing to the kid as if there was something that needed to be addressed urgently. "I need you to be my partner for the next game. Please say yes, please please _please _say yes."

"I don't know," replied the brave little warrior lacking some sense of enthusiasm.

Confused, the young Mitchell turned to Chloe questioningly which the redhead responded by secretly mouthing 'Beca'.

"You know, when Beca and I were as young as you, she used to love having fun," was Stan's attempt to cheer the little guy up. The young heiress grimaced at the thought of such thing; well, it wasn't entirely a lie if you consider playing with knives and destroying an ant colony as fun. "I know so because we practically did everything together. We were _partners_. So now that she's… _gone_, I would really be honored to have you as my new partner in crime… _kiddo_."

If there was one person who would be allowed to share the same nickname as the horrible monster, it would be cute little Maverick. Beca wouldn't mind for sure (probably… maybe…).

"Okay," Maverick ultimately agreed, happily holding on to Stan's hand as they march back to the party.

"Where's Stan?" Fat Amy and Aubrey stopped by Chloe, both panting heavily, desperately searching for the man of the hour. "It's time for hanging apple eating contest!"

"Sorry, girls. Stan's already teaming up with Maverick."

Devastated by the fact that the only chance they could kiss the young Mitchell on the lips without seeming too obvious about it or without the risk of being accused of sexually harassing him had gone with the wind, Fat Amy sadly turned to leave to look for Jesse. He could be the back-up plan minus the possible kiss. The apples looked delicious.

"I could be your partner," Chloe volunteered to her best friend.

"At some point, our lips may touch. Kissing you would be, like, the worst-"

Before Aubrey could finish her statement of rejection, the redhead had already cut her off with a quick kiss on the lips.

"Worst thing happened," she winked teasingly. "Now let's go play that game."

Frenziedly brushing her lips with the back of her hand in utmost disgust, the Posen heiress called out, "We shall _never_ speak of this again!"

* * *

Ronie balanced a paper bag filled with birthday presents on one hand and a pack of take-out food on the other. Stupid birthday, the children's party had totally worn out her body. And stupid daughter for bailing out on her. She should have been enjoying a juicy steak by this point as originally promised by Beca, but instead, the celebrant had to settle down with Chinese take-out like it was any other regular day. She just closed the door and locked the car after a few struggles when a familiar black Ferrari came roaring down the quiet neighborhood and making noisy tire screech as it pulled over by Ronie's house. Much to her surprise, her daughter ran to her in haste. Almost out of breath, Beca stopped in front of Ronie and held up a bottle of a _Domaine de la Romanée-Conti_ wine.

"No steak," she huffed. "I got wine though... I hope I'm not late for dinner."

"I thought you're not going to make it?"

The notorious brunette shrugged, "I can stay in Savannah all night and try to kill myself over and over or I can be here with you and not ruin your birthday."

"I got Chinese take-out," Ronie cheered mostly because her daughter hated it.

Nevertheless, Beca helped her mother with the rest of the packages and they quietly walked to the door. Ronie enthusiastically unlocked it, pushed it open, then from out of the blue, the lights switched on automatically while some confetti was programmed to blow off in synchronization.

"Surprise!"

Aubrey, Fat Amy, Stan, and Chloe emerged from behind their hiding place with Jesse securely holding up a red velvet cake (to make up for the one he ruined earlier). Truth was Jesse spoiled the children's party surprise plan on purpose so Ronie would never anticipate that there would be a surprise party for adults came nighttime. Everything went according to their plan… except they didn't expect to see an additional guest.

Nobody dared to neither breathe nor say a word. All eyes and jaws were simply left wide open. Jesse ruined the cake again, unintentionally dropping it on the floor, while a waterfall of tears slowly stained Chloe's cheeks, her body paralyzed in the moment, her heart racing wildly and her breath caught up in her throat. _Oh my god, s_he was looking straight at Beca Mitchell – undeniably real and very much alive! She was right all along. Beca Mitchell was indeed alive!

* * *

_And there you go. :)_

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Pitch Perfect.


	8. Reunion

_It was the highest number of reviews for a non-finale chapter I've ever had. And I would never really mind if I end up having only 3 or 5 people reading, but this is just so overwhelming. This must be how romeothewriter and awriterofthings feel like..._

_**BeChloeFan01: **Thanks for your help, love. :)_

**_Crabapplekid89: _**_That's what I thought as well. LOL. Nonetheless, it was a very good suggestion._

**_NightmareWalker, iamtitaniuuum, oilzz and stuff:_**_ Anything could happen. Really._

**_charliepollock1357, Guest_**_ (Mar 6), **Theblackfriend1, lucakutya**__:__ I should have warned everybody that the update would take longer than the usual._

**_airdr12, Mogget0607, cxcxcx386:_**_ Welcome to my twists! :)_

**_avidreader_**_:__ Thanks, dear._

**_KissKendrick:_**_ First of all, thanks for the multiple reviews! :) And a friendly reminder: brace yourself for this chapter._

**_ItsLazyGurl:_**_ I am truly in love with your review._

**_Moxain:_**_ Admit it, you do enjoy the worst freaking cliffhanger. LOL._

**_itsmefiebs:_**_ I was like "You go girl" when I was writing that part with Aubrey and her dad._

**_RobOverstreet:_**_ Still haven't figured a way out of that triangle._

**_crazybeautifulme:_**_ Thanks for leaving a review. Well, we'll explore all their reactions._

**_shifter boy:_**_ I appreciate the suggestion, but it would have been a totally different direction from what I was aiming for. It's just not the kind of reaction from Chloe that I had envisioned. Ben will stick around, I'm sorry. And I'll add the story on my list. I'm not reading any other fanfic right now since I'm pretty busy in school._

**_Rennie Laroche:_**_ Wow. Pressure._

**_Yan:_**_ Uh... I'm pretty sure that was Beca, dear._

**_brittanysnodes:_**_ No, I didn't have much fun. I could barely breathe actually. But yes, I had a line similar to that in my head. LOL. To tell you the truth, when I was starting to form the sequel, that cliffhanger was the highlight in my mental blueprint._

**_Melanocortin1, madness2013:_**_ It's a roller coaster ride, so we'll see..._

**_Natali1798, fullasincerity, Cfoxsharp, ShesArmed, Jon, asdfg, Guest_**_ (Mar 5)__:__We've all been waiting for that moment, haven't we? :)_

**_MysticFalls94: _**_I just never thought I could actually pull off that much of reviews. Usually, I only get that number during last chapters. LOL. It's a pleasant surprise for me, and it's so awesome!_

_**FilipinoBlood: **Writing the endings are so stressful, trust me. #GoT_

**_PurpleWedding:_**_ I'm so sorry I had to put you through that distress._

**_aianne26:_**_ It's nice to see you here! :)_

* * *

CHAPTER SEVEN: **Reunion**

Was it the best thing to could have done in the midst of the situation – run away without offering even the least of all explanations and simply escape from the ghosts of the past in order to preserve the dark shadows in the background? The mighty Phoenix, in an unusual portrait of a _frightened_ creature, paced her apartment waiting and anticipating for the worst of the worsts to arrive. She knew. They would never let it slide even though it was essentially the remaining hours of her mother's birthday. They would detain Ronie, bombard her with endless questions, and possibly despise her for even agreeing to keep the secret. It almost felt too cruel to leave her behind with the rest of them.

The horrible monster sat down on the bed, the only furniture aside from the small dresser decorating her apartment, and reminded herself to breathe. _Cynthia-Rose._ She had to call Cynthia-Rose and inform her about what happened. She would know what to do. She could fix this _problem_. Therefore, Beca decided to dial the emergency number on her communication device, but the plan was already too late to be executed; a set of loud knocks was heard through the door. It must be Ronie who came to check on her – she was the only one who knew this address – so almost in automatic, the mighty Phoenix tossed the electronic device on the bed and dashed towards the door. She pulled it open only to freeze in place when she came face-to-face with the one and only Chloe Beale.

Chloe stood right there outside the apartment unit at past eleven in the evening, two feet away from the love of her life whom she thought had been long burned-to-ashes-and-buried-in-an-urn-inside-a-metal-casket-six-feet-under-the-ground dead; only a sheet of invisible barrier in between them in such close parameter. She was wordless yet her presence, her stillness, her overflowing emotions - they were all spelling out the most meaningful verses at this very moment. She was angry, apparently. However, she didn't shout out her resentment like most normal people would. Instead, her tears stained her angelic face as she simply stood right there and stared at the beauty she had thought she would never see again. She harshly wiped the tears away for a poor attempt at fierceness, but an inevitable blink triggered another downpour of waterfall, yet still, she didn't say a single word leaving the other clueless about what was about to unfold. So indeed, Chloe Beale was the worst of the worsts that the mighty Phoenix could have anticipated to come knocking on her door.

Then like a bolt of lightning, Beca received a hard slap across her face. Frankly, it was a relief because if Chloe stood there for infinity without doing anything at all, the horrible monster would die dreadfully wondering what was going on in that brain. She had just barely composed herself when another slap came in. The mighty Phoenix didn't even bother to rub the surface or try to at least ease the pain. She deserved it. As a matter of fact, she deserved more than that. Chloe should have brought a cheese grater to skin the monster off then tie her to a tree using a barbed wire and cut her into half with a butter knife in the slowest and most agonizing possible manner.

"You're alive," she eventually spoke in her softest voice that her former bodyguard had ever heard from her.

Beca, however, merely directed her dark blue orbs towards the pair of bright blue eyes soaking in tears and opted to stay in her most promising state of a very quiet cricket. It was somehow a security blanket; anything she would say at this point could and would be used against her.

"You're alive," repeated the other, louder and firmer than the previous as if she was pronouncing the gospel and it was very important that Beca would understand the essence of it.

Still, the horrible monster chose to be a very quiet cricket which was more than infuriating.

"I thought you were dead and you don't know how much it hurt me," Chloe admitted in a string of whisper. Fine, she would do the talking. Her heart was going to burst out if she didn't try to get it all out of her system anyway. "I honestly thought the roller coaster ride was the worst thing to happen… until I lost you, Beca. It's like losing _everything_ I've ever had. So if you have any idea how it feels like to get hit by a train for a hundred times over, fall off from the very peak of the Burj Khalifa, have all your arms and legs chop off, then you should know that none of those could ever describe even the _slightest _pain I've felt when I thought you're forever gone."

Was it really that bad?

"I spent one whole year and forty days wishing I could wake up next to you in my bed, but you were never there. One whole year and forty nights I cried myself to sleep because I asked for you and you never came. All those times I was hurting and crying and waiting and wishing… I just _needed_ you to be with me… until it finally sink in that maybe they're right, maybe you really are gone. Maybe I'm just foolishly waiting for someone who's never coming back. Then suddenly, you're here like everything is just a freaking game of hide and seek! Now you're ripping my heart all over again. You're driving me insane all over again. And I'm supposed to hate you for all those things! God knows I want to hate you, Beca… for lying to me, for hiding away, for making me feel so naïve and miserable all those times, but-"

She abruptly stopped herself, sharply breathing out a sigh. She then wiped off the tears streaming down her cheeks once more and threw her hands in the air briefly in aggravation because yeah, she was supposed to hate this woman. She had all the right to hate her!

"But as I stand here right now in front of you, I realize that all I really want to say is… I love you _so so much_, Beca. And no matter what, it's always going to come right back to that."

One more look at the love of her life before the young heiress lowered her head in torment. After all, you couldn't break a broken person. Chloe managed to repair herself when she agreed to embrace the big fat lie fed to her. Then here came the truth – the fact that twice in this lifetime so far, Beca _intentionally_ chose to leave her without even bothering to state the reason why – leaving the fragile redhead absolutely heartbroken all over again. So yes, one could not really break a broken person; one could only fix her. And one was named Beca Mitchell.

The very quiet cricket crossed the invisible barrier, stepped out of her own cage straight into the wilderness, left the sanctuary that was pure isolation with the motive of eroding the two-foot distance between her and the worst of the worsts she could be with this evening. She was never really such an expert when it came to words, but this was something that couldn't be fairly mended with the use of them. Thus, still speechless, she reached for Chloe's hand and pulled it all the way up to her cheek, finding haven upon the connection, inhaling the scent of sweet vanilla, and then softly kissed the palm of Chloe's hand until she realized it was a little too selfish. So she turned towards the broken one, reached for her angelic face, gently wiped the tears with her thumbs revealing in clarity the pair of spellbinding bright blue eyes. God, they were still the single most wonderful paradise that Beca could ever find. They were still so mesmerizing and pacifying she could feel herself falling in love with the redheaded monster for the second time around.

Like a magnetic attraction, the mighty Phoenix was inescapably absorbed… leaning in… closer and closer… slowly… parting her own lips slightly… until they had finally touched Chloe's. It was a kiss worth one whole year and forty days and nights and _beyond_. That kiss; it was both rough and gentle, a burning sensation to the body yet a cool breeze to the soul, a split second that could miraculously last forever. It was _nothing_ but the definitive vindication.

It didn't take too long for things to take its toll. Beca had hauled her unexpected guest into the room sealing them both away from the rest of the cruel world while the redheaded monster stripped the stupid black leather jacket off, both kicked their shoes in urgency, all of which certainly unwanted in this most anticipated reunion. The notorious brunette pinned the precious heiress against the wooden door, brushing their lips, launching a ferocious tongue war wherein nobody apparently wanted to lose. Chloe subsequently moaned in Beca's mouth, pushing her knees against the other's inner thigh, her entire being responding to the full rush of voluptuous sensation vibrating across her spine.

Keeping Chloe's delicate hand tightly secured on one side, the mighty Phoenix moved her lips to kiss the redhead's cheek, her jaw, the side of her neck while the other hand quietly wander from her shoulder down to her chest, to her side, her buttocks until it ultimately found the hem of the pink summer dress, hiking it up, her cold strong hand memorizing the feeling of silky smooth skin which led to the cottony material of Chloe's underwear, playing it with her fingers, the urge to easily yank it all away due to overwhelming desire was just around the corner. However, the other had already turned them over, surprisingly stealing utmost control and dominance in this lascivious act of love. Boy was the callous female Casanova got turned on even more.

This time, Chloe had pulled the black shirt over Beca's head. This time, Chloe had Beca's arms locked against the door. This time, it was Chloe who was sucking on Beca's pulse, biting on her skin aiming for the combination of pain and pleasure in effect, causing the callous creature to involuntarily throw her head back in sensual delight, gasping loudly for air. The redheaded monster trailed steamy kisses starting at the brunette's stern shoulder down to the valley between her breasts and all the way to her incredibly toned abs. Chloe planted more raving kisses as she pressed herself against the opposite body then licking Beca's earlobe, the canal became its runway, her eardrum like a cherry-flavored lollipop – the sound of raspy moans and groans signaled just how good it felt. God, that mind-blowing feeling.

That's it. Beca just couldn't contain the drive anymore. She pushed the fragile redhead to the nearby wall with a thud, Chloe tried to fight back and regain the ball, but the cold-blooded beast had quickly crashed her lips onto hers – one sugary kiss, hard and wet – then holding on to the redhead's breasts through the thin fabric of the pink summer dress, kneading them into her own liking. The least that Chloe could do was to reach for the Phoenix's pants, pulling the lower body closer, unbuttoning and unzipping the piece of clothing until she could touch for anything she possibly could in there. But Beca was already way ahead – a hand was already snaking down below, greeting an old friend for good measure before plunging two fingers into Chloe's opening, perfectly curled up inside the way she remembered her old girlfriend would submit in full consent, sliding them in and out in a constant speed that increased as time ticked by, leaving the redhead completely out of breath.

Pool of dilated blues collided in one loving gaze. From there, everything just felt even better; Chloe's senses concentrated to the sexual motion stirring in her core, swallowing hard, panting, searching for refuge on the wall, her hips bucked forward… She was close, almost there. But no, the brunette just wouldn't let that happen yet. Beca dropped down to her knees, her hands smoothly slid down on either sides dragging along the pair of panties underneath the dress. She gave one long lick over the masterpiece she had partially crafted and Chloe's shaky foot rose against the other's arm, responding.

But seriously, it was kind of unfair that Beca had already fast forwarded her game when she still even had her pants on. Her black bra came off sooner much to the other's enjoyment, and it was immediately followed by the pink summer dress and Chloe's own bra on the floor. The young heiress initiated the quick undisturbed trip to the bed, pushing the mighty Phoenix down creating a minor bounce, leaning forward teasingly that Beca could only grasp the strands of red hair with her fingertips. The redheaded monster jerked the stupid tight black pants away and tossed it someplace else where it wouldn't be much of a burden any longer, so was the only remaining piece of clothing on Beca's body. She then threw that long-lasting piercing look before planting ghostly kisses on the brunette's foot, her inner thighs, moving north towards the center of the universe, dipping her tongue into the rapture, performing that blissful choreography while her hands reached for the rest of the feast. The mighty Phoenix couldn't help but whimper in pleasure, clutching on the bed sheets to cope with the intense level of ecstasy. It was the perfect revenge for the redheaded monster so that when it was nearing the climax, she recoiled with a sinister smirk on her lips. Crawling up, she locked Beca in between her legs, her eyes fixed on the annoyed look before her. The other propped herself up to meet the worst of the worsts half-way through, setting her on top, feeling the wetness against the skin on her stomach.

"How are you feeling, cricket?" asked the redhead in that sultry voice running out of breath directly into Beca's ear while the other nibbled on her collarbone.

For a moment, Chloe thought she still wouldn't get an answer until the other slowly looked up to meet her gaze with softened eyes that rarely appeared on her image, a hand upon the back of Chloe's neck, and muttered her first words to the redhead since over a year ago, "Nothing."

"Liar," the young heiress giggled adorably in accusation – _sexy_ – then cupped Beca's face with both hands, pecking on her lips.

"But I thought you already knew that," claimed the notorious brunette before deepening the kiss that was soon converted into another battle of tongues. She glided the redhead a little more to the south right where she needed her to be, and Chloe began to sway her hips in a slow pace at first when the communication device completely forgotten in the midst of the occasion began beeping noisily.

"Don't," the redhead begged, trying to smooch the love of her life.

Beca, however, was already pulling away, a hand frenziedly searching for the device buried somewhere on the bed sheets. Stupid thing, where the hell was it? It must be Cynthia-Rose and it must be something important. Hence, the call must be answered ASAP. Chloe's face had swiftly fallen into a frown when the mighty Phoenix had ignored her plea and went on to grab the electronic device just a few inches to the left. Unexpectedly though, the horrible monster turned the device off with grave intolerance then threw it out of the window surely wrecking it into pieces. _Stupid, stupid fucking thing!_

"What?" she innocently inquired when she saw the baffled image on the angelic face. "I'm yours all night, babe."

Bit by bit, Chloe's lips curved into a sneer, endearingly biting her lower lip at the pleasant surprise. Funny how one whole year and forty days and nights of torture had been absolutely overlooked in just a single night with the mighty Phoenix – no questions asked! She didn't fight back when they flipped over, submitted instead to Beca's wants and needs, and yearned that 'all night' would last a thousand lifetimes.

* * *

"Swanson, the door!"

Jesse whined like a baby and dumped his face on the pillow as soon as the thick Australia accent coming from the kitchen (of course) rocked his sleepy soul. Why did he have to do it? They put him on watch all night while they all went to sleep! The only thing he needed at this point was a considerable amount of sleep.

_Ding dong._

"Get up and get the fucking door, Padawan!"

"A Padawan I am not!" he shouted back but nobody really paid attention to his complaint. So defeated, he dragged himself away from Ronie's couch to open the front door that wouldn't shut up.

Aubrey's supercilious aura was the first thing he saw in this particular morning, and he didn't get any form of greeting along with it. The young heiress simply waltzed into the house then towed him along to the kitchen to join the rest of the group. _Must sleep on the couch, _he longingly wished in his mind.

"Chloe didn't go home last night," she reported promptly, sitting on the chair next to Fat Amy while the sleepyhead sat at the opposite side next to Stan. "I went to her house before coming over, and _nada_. She's set to attend an event today, so Kimmy Jin is _not_ happy."

"If only she brought her phone along with her and didn't leave her car behind," Fat Amy supposed. It would have been easier to track down Chloe through the marvels of GPS. The Australian blonde spread Nutella all over her waffle then placed small slices of banana on top and another piece of waffle to complete the bun. Perfect meal. She offered some to the other blonde, but thankfully, she declined with a judgmental cringe.

Jesse turned to his friends, rubbing his eyes wearily. "There's no way she could find Beca if that's what she's trying to do here… 'cause clearly, the mighty Phoenix doesn't want to be found otherwise she wouldn't play dead for a very long time."

"You think?" his fellow IT expert unleashed the sarcasm this early in the day.

"I still can't believe you didn't tell us," Stan spoke from out of the blue directing the upset portrait in his eyes towards his own mother. "Didn't you think I deserved to know, mom? I was mopping for an entire year over the impression that my sister is already dead. Turned out she's still pretty much alive, and you knew about it all along."

"It was Beca's decision," explained Ronie. "She just couldn't turn her back on The Society."

"The last time she made a decision concerning The Secret Society and then got you involved, it almost killed you! Don't you remember that?"

"Stan, your sister's no longer thirteen! She knows what she's doing this time!"

Okay, voices were rising. Boy, this was uncomfortable for the rest of the group.

"So let's just wait for her to fix everything with her brilliant plan, is that it?" Stan retorted, leaning back to his chair with arms folded over his chest, his biceps silently exposed in a sleeveless undershirt gracing the blondes' breakfast meal.

"It was for everybody's sake!" exclaimed the brunette.

"Have you seen Chloe all those times, mom?"

"Yeah," Aubrey blurt out her thoughts a little too loud than necessary. "I'm so going to murder that stupid little Phoenix."

Maintaining her unyielding gaze towards the young Mitchell, Ronie admitted, "I know she was a mess, and you have no idea how many times I almost told her the truth. I _wanted_ to. But I just couldn't."

"You could have told me!" her son insisted. "It's my job to protect my sister!"

"And it's my job to protect both of you!" she ultimately pointed it out. Damn, kids just never get it! "_All of you_… Do you honestly think, Stan, that Beca simply shoved the plan into my brain and I approved just like that? All I wanted when she showed up in my house the night after we all thought she was already burned to death is for this family to reunite once and for all. But it'll come with a price. You may not understand this right now, but playing dead keeps your sister alive. Playing dead keeps every one of us here safe… So yeah, I lied. I hurt all of you by omission. And I'm sorry for that. But I'll never be sorry that I did it because I wanted to protect you."

_Ding dong._

Jesse was about to take his first sip of coffee when the doorbell rang once more. He looked around him to see everyone else was preoccupied with something. No, he certainly didn't want to stand in between that intense staring contest between the mother and son. Yes, he was scared of Aubrey Posen. And Fat Amy seemed to be sending the signal already. So what the hell! He let out a defeated sigh, dragged himself to the front door, to greet whoever was on the other side.

"Cynthia-Rose," gasped the IT expert in disbelief.

"J-Jesse," the old Phoenix was able to respond. The great debate whether to stay or escape had been instigated inside her mental consciousness. Fine, running away would be too suspicious. So she'd stay indeed. "Yo, I came to visit-"

But Ronie's voice didn't let her finish the sentence, "No need for an alibi, CR. He already knows. _They _already know."

"They?" the newly-arrived guest questioned as she followed the voice to the kitchen where she was immediately met with a group of disheartened friends. Oh, _they_. For a second thought, she should have just run away. But since it was already too late for that, she took a deep breath to prepare herself for what was about to come next. "Okay, fire away, people."

As expected, everybody except from the Chief Directress erupted into a screaming chorus. The questions and rants poured out all at once like raging water in an ocean. Frankly, the collective words failed to make sense, the sentences submerged in the noise. Nevertheless, CR understood their messages very well.

"It's actually very simple," she started with a loud voice, shutting them all up. "Bumper knew that Beca would be the only remaining threat to the Syndicate's plans. He would stop at nothing to put her down and the rest of The Secret Society. The strategy is to convince him that she's already dead, so he'd no longer pay attention hunting her and in the process, the team could work behind his back. Now if Beca has been able to convince her own family and friends that she's already dead, why wouldn't it convince her enemy?"

"So the treasure-hunting is still on?" inquired Stan just to make it clear which she responded with an unfortunate nod. "I'm in."

"We're in!" the pair of IT experts declared in unison, so did the Posen heiress.

"Hold your horses!" CR held up her hands in apprehension, shaking her head at the idea. "I don't think the Head Phoenix will agree. Beca will totally kill me!"

"Oh I'll kill her first thing," swore Aubrey. "Where on earth is she anyway?"

CR shrugged her shoulders, "I was wondering the same thing. She didn't show up at Pandemonium last night, and-"

"Pandemonium?" Stan cut her off with a surprised expression. Of course he didn't know about it yet too making Fat Amy and Jesse exchanged quick looks before acting all so perfectly innocent. It wouldn't be a good idea to get on his bad side.

"Long story," was all the other could offer at the moment. "For now, we need to find Beca. I've been trying to contact her since last night but… there's a good chance that she broke her communication device. We have tons of things to do. It's not like her to waste time, isn't it? So the only rational place I could think of is… _here_."

"Chloe's missing too," supplied the blonde heiress.

And it was all Cynthia-Rose needed to know to get the picture of trouble they were about to feasibly encounter. _Shit. _No, not Chloe again. The kryptonite could possibly ruin the brilliant plan. Over a year of hard work could all go to waste because of _her_.

"Ronie," she turned to the brunette. "Don't tell me…"

"Come on, they need it!" Ronie reasoned out. "Beca made a choice and Chloe's moved on, I know. But they _still_ need to talk."

The rest focused on the conversation with great interest. "You mean they're together right now?"

"They're not having sex right now… right?" Aubrey had to put her worries out, rubbing her temples to prevent the occurrence of a severe headache. Oh the mental image!

"Give me the address, Ronie," CR demanded in the most polite manner.

The mother answered with a firm, "No."

"Please."

"I am not giving anybody the address! Each one of you has only seen half of the picture, but I've seen them both! And I'm sick of watching two miserable people longing for each other when they should be together, alright? So if any of you want to find either or both of them, you are free to wait!"

She posted an authoritative look, her guests startled by the sudden outburst of emotion. They had never seen this side of the typically playful old woman. Talk about awkward. Nonetheless, they all nodded in agreement and the waiting in silence had officially begun. Pleased by the way things had concluded, Ronie turned around to hide her true facial expression, walking over to the coffee maker.

"Wow, I can't believe that actually worked," she secretly mumbled to herself in amazement.

* * *

Maybe it was the feeling of being watched or the sound of quiet steady breaths, or maybe both; Chloe slowly opened her eyes awake to see a pair of dark blue orbs glued on her.

"Good morning," whispered the brunette in her normally emotionless voice.

And the young heiress couldn't help but smile. That was the deal, right? If Beca would really insist, she would have to greet her lady boss as cheerful as possible upon waking up in the morning. Still not cheerful yet ridiculously cute. This had to be the best way to wake up – both lying on the side, still stark-naked, just staring at each other lovingly like it was everything that mattered in the planet. It felt like a _dream._

Suddenly alarmed at the idea, Chloe placed a finger right upon Beca's forehead moving it down across her nose line, tracing her lips then her jawline… touched the strands of dark brown hair… looked at the nude landscape under the sheets…

"What are you doing?" asked the mighty Phoenix, curious.

"I'm making sure this time you're real," was the truthful answer, and she sounded adorably childlike.

"Of course, I'm real. You practically… _devour_ me the whole time and now you're uncertain whether or not I'm real? Something's really wrong with you, woman."

"And you still love me?"

"Yes."

Very good answer. Okay, that one warranted a kiss.

"What did the lawyer name his daughter?" Beca tossed a joke in the spur of the moment.

The young heiress giggled as she replied, "What?"

"Sue."

And the giggles were soon replaced by loud chuckles. "That's your worst."

"But you're still laughing," the horrible monster stated, even suppressing a small smile herself in amusement. "So that means you still love me?"

"Yes."

Fine, another kiss for that. This time, it was deeper, more passionate, and lasted longer than necessary. Funny how moments like this no matter how silly it was could transcend the happiest of emotions. They could honestly live together in this bed for eternity.

"It was you, wasn't it?" Chloe asked in a murmur, her breath blending with Beca's as she spoke. "You're… the ghost."

"I needed to hear your voice," answered the other frankly.

"I could hear you breathing, you know."

"And it didn't creep you out? I was afraid you'd stop answering the calls."

"I died when I thought you were. Those calls made me feel otherwise. Believe it or not, Beca, I've lived in those moments."

The quiet cricket stared at her for a minute or so until she decided to respond with a sweet and gentle and romantic kiss they had already mastered creating that small smile on the redhead's lips. Perfect treat for breakfast… and the fact that Beca was climbing on top once more, hormones spontaneously flaring up, not even for a second withdrew her lips away from Chloe's pair of strawberry-flavored ones.

"You know," the young heiress reflexively moaned when the brunette sucked and squeezed her breasts. "I-I just… remembered… I-I have an appointment today… My… EA… m-must be-"

Beca licked the redhead's flat stomach then briefly glanced at those bright blue eyes. "Stay."

"Kimmy Jin's gonna kill you," Chloe warned yet her hands raked the wave of dark brown locks.

With lips nipping every inch of sensitive skin as she moved further down, the other mumbled, "She thinks I'm already dead so… win-win."

"Beca…" it was supposed to be a protest, but the air caught up in Chloe's throat made it sound more like an irked go-ahead.

So just when the party was getting more fun, for the secondary purpose of annoying the redhead, the horrible monster cut it short and crawled back up to stare at the angelic face. She would have been a lot easier to read if only her image wasn't that much of a blank canvass.

"Do me a favor… Could you be so selfish and stay? Just one day when nothing else mattered… only you and me. Give me until sunset, that'll be enough. Could you do that, Chloe?"

"I'd do anything for you," replied the other in all honesty.

So Beca smiled a little. But it was different. It looked genuinely happy, but not fully. It didn't look so sad, but a hint of it. Unfortunately, Chloe didn't have the chance to clarify because then the mighty Phoenix kissed her again. One thing led to another then…

* * *

"What's up, dude?"

Clarence looked up from his paper works to witness the presence of Bumper Allen at his office door with Paul and Gail carefully guarding him from behind. His only company was a signature devilish sneer on his face. How could he have the guts to enter an old enemy's lair all by himself? This must be some kind of a lure.

"I come in peace," the young man guaranteed.

The rich man welcomed his visitor with a dirty look. "What do you want, Bumper?"

"The treasure," the Head Syndic didn't beat around the bush. "That's what I want."

"I already told you, I _don't_ know where it is."

"Yes," Bumper nodded his head nonchalantly as he walked over to the chair to take a seat. Paul attentively followed the casual actions with his eyes and stood by the opposite side. "But I'm thinking about the possibility that Benji Applebaum left you with some clues."

"_If_ I have them, what makes you think I'm going to share them with you?"

The visitor let out some chuckles then critically looked around the room. "You know, this is not how I pictured Clarence Beale's office. It's a little too… trifling, I guess. Oh wait! You've been demoted. Yeah, I heard that."

"What are you going getting at?" Clarence questioned.

The Head Syndic shrugged in pretentious innocence. "Dude! Your_ insignificance_ in this corporation is tragically growing… unless you could be powerful again. To achieve that, you'd need more resources. _I_, too, need more resources. So I thought… why don't we help each other out? Let's go find the treasure, split it afterwards."

"Get out," was the rejecting response.

The other took it as a compliment though, smiling even more, because behind the resilient façade, Bumper could comprehend a room for deliberation.

"Call me when you've made a decision," he placed an old phone on the table then stood up, ready to leave. "Don't even consider about getting the police involve, dude. You don't want them to know how we're acquainted, do you?"

He gave the businessman one last look, momentarily glanced at the former Syndic in a black suit then ultimately left. Bumper was right. Clarence Beale was making a mental deliberation.

"No, sir," Paul's voice got into his head. "Don't strike a deal with the devil again."

But it might be the only way to save the corporation, the only way to get his precious daughter return to his team.

* * *

Years and years of training triggered the mighty Phoenix to seize the hand by the wrist right before it could even land upon her face. She shut her eyes open expecting to find an enemy, but it was only her favorite redhead.

"I'm sorry," she apologized immediately releasing the hand from her violent grip.

"It's okay," smiled the young heiress. She was already dressed and had Beca's used garments for laundry. "We missed the sunset and we haven't eaten anything all day. I could cook something but your fridge is a pile of ice cold beers, so... go take a shower and we'll dine out?"

The brunette got out of bed, approached the dresser in Commando, and Chloe couldn't help but stare at the length of her bare back – the magnificent phoenix tattoo blemished by a few burnt scars on the left side, a small reminder of the past. Defiantly, Beca put on some fresh clothes signaling that she didn't intend to go anywhere else. Still on mute, she walked back to the redhead to claim the laundry, primarily her jacket to check the essential old renaissance key. It's still there. The mission was still there.

"Something wrong?" inquired Chloe.

Surprisingly, the brunette merely offered a blank stare. It was a stretch of emptiness, but somehow it made the other feel a little worried. She could read something out of it.

"Talk to me."

But Beca wouldn't.

"I know that face, cricket."

Still, wordless.

"Say something!" the redhead pleaded in distress.

The mighty Phoenix, loud and clear, bravely spoke, "I don't want to be with you anymore."

"What?" was all the redhead could come up with. She didn't get a response, unfortunately. And it didn't help that her stupid brain couldn't process the statement. Was it a joke? "I spent more than a year waiting for you when I didn't even know you're still alive. Now that you're back… that's what you tell me?"

Beca's poker face glared back at her. God, how could she be this heartless!

"So what's the…?" Chloe's voice cracked as she started to tear up. "Why did we even…? You asked me to… God, I can't even…! I-I don't understand, Beca!"

"You'd do anything for me, right? What I need you to do, Chloe… is to stay out of my life."

That's it? Just like that, it's over? Why the fuck was this horrible monster so good at toying her emotions? One moment, she was fixing a broken heart then the next thing you know, she was ripping it apart. Again.

"Goodbye, Chloe."

She was seriously sending her away! And Chloe knew she was supposed to contest. She wasn't supposed to let Beca win this time. But it felt like the mighty Phoenix had already built a great big immovable and impenetrable wall between them making her even more impossible to be reached. So, _helpless_ and crying for the millionth time, Chloe turned around to proceed towards the door. The trip felt like walking on a tightrope although either way, she already felt dead.

"Why?" she interrogated as soon as she reached the exit. This time she needed to know the reason, and she wasn't going to take a silent treatment for an answer. She'd wait no matter how long it'd take.

Fortunately for Beca, she only had Chloe's back as an audience. The redhead missed the sorrow upon the tough image. She would only hear the cold and unaffected tone when the beast answered, "Because I woke up and realized... I just don't want to be with you anymore. Not ever."

Perhaps, the mighty Phoenix was still the best liar in town because the other bit the bait, and _that _was the most painful thing one could ever take in straight from the person they loved. Chloe could literally feel her heart choking to death. No, she wouldn't give the horrible monster the pleasure of witnessing her downfall! Hence, she hurriedly pulled the door open only to halt when a certain brunette was standing right in front of her, startled, her fist poised supposedly to knock on the wooden barrier.

"I-I'm sorry," the friendly neighbor glanced at the crying stranger then looked over at Beca. "I notice your car's parked all day, oddly, so I thought I'd check on you. I assumed you're dead."

Much to her shock, the redhead rudely derided before storming off. _What the hell was this woman's problem, _the brunette wondered. Well, if Beca would have bothered to inform, the problem was the friendly neighbor had the face of Stacie Conrad.

* * *

_Now before you all go "You should fucking rot in hell" on me, let me just say that I literally cried writing the end of this chapter. I personally felt the rejection._

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Pitch Perfect.


	9. Dogs

_Sometimes I wish I'm not the author of this story. It sucks when you know the twists before they happen! I'm always spoiling myself. Damn it. And I really wish there's an effective way I could distinguish all the Guests from one another because there are some who posts on the same date._

**_sherralotz, Moxain, Yan_****_: _**_I love it when 'I hate you' or 'WTF' becomes the sweetest thing. LOL._

_**Guest** (Mar 13), **DieZeitVergeht, Guest **(Mar 11), **FilipinoBlood, asdfg**: It's kind of funny reading all your reactions. *evil laugh*_

**_Illithyia:_**_ It's my next big challenge._

**_avidreader: _**_Thank you so much for investing some of your time to read my story. :)_

**_NightmareWalker:_**_ I am truly thankful that we don't know each other personally. God, I can imagine you following me night and day, complaining how I'm toying with your emotions. LOL. But really, I find it as a compliment._

**_iamtitaniuuum:_**_ Still, breaking up by lying to her is a jackass move._

**_guest, leijan:_**_ Please don't die._

_**Guest **(Mar 12), **itsmefiebs, randomperson**: Thanks! :)  
_

**_PitchPerfectLover:_**_ Beca should really watch out for Aubrey from now on. LOL. You know, I love you for laughing at all my jokes, like, every single time! :) And you must really love Stacie's character, don't you?_

**_gleekathoner: _**_Pang MMK ba? :)__  
_

**_shifter boy:_**_ Chloe's not that kind of a girl. Don't worry._

**_Rennie Laroche, chile101:_**_ There's a reason._

**_charliepollock1357, atty jannie:_**_ Taking the easy way out is too cliche Beca would hate it._

**_oilzz and stuff, brittanysnodes, Guest_**_ (Mar 11)__: __Beca will pay the price. *winks*_

**_lucakutya:_**_ This is officially my favorite review ever!_

**_Natali1798:_**_ I'm really sorry for putting Chloe through all these. I can totally feel every pain she's felt since the prologue._

_**Guest **(Mar 11), **sokpovung, DJBMitch, fullasincerity:** Yeah, they will have a happy ending. One of the disadvantages of fanfiction. I can't really play the will-they-or-will-they-not game on you, people._

**_Crabapplekid89: _**_Well, the scene I have in mind is Beca simply running away after dropping the bottle of wine. The others were just too stunned to even process the whole thing and follow her. :)_

**_ItsLazyGurl:_**_ I laughed at Sparknotes. That would be my legacy. LOL. We can totally discuss things if you want. With regards to your inquiry, Chloe was definitely mad. I mean, she spent over a year mourning and then one night of sex only to end up in a break-up. After getting your heart broken, it's not comforting to see the same woman who had been sooooo in love with your [ex] girlfriend, isn't it? Seeing "Stacie" there gave the impression that Beca had been perfectly fine, who knows what could have happened in the span of time, while Chloe grieved._

**_MysticFalls94: _**_To be honest, originally the line was "After all, I realize that you really are nothing to me." But then I was afraid that Chloe won't take it seriously because of the fact that the word "nothing" kind of have a different meaning to them._

**_RobOverstreet, airdr12:_**_ Aww._

_Reading your reviews, I feel the need to warn you that "Stacie" will play a super minor role this time._

* * *

CHAPTER EIGHT: **Dogs**

In the Private room, Thud and Lilly sat side-by-side on the sofa watching in awe the Head Phoenix casually consume a bowl of macaroni and cheese. The word was out – the girl with the ladybug tattoo had found out about the truth, that the love of her life was in fact alive. So, how in the world could Beca Mitchell be acting abnormally too laidback about the whole thing? They expected an extremely rare bliss to replace her typically straight face at least for some period of time, or if the reunion had gone towards the opposite direction, a more moody version of the horrible monster. Either of them would be perfectly fine. Neither was the case, unfortunately, because the brunette simply ate her brunch meal in her usual state of a very quiet cricket.

"It didn't go well, huh?" Cynthia-Rose started, passing a bottle of Heineken towards her friend. "I was expecting that you'd bring Chloe to work if it actually went well."

The other went on to stuff a spoonful of macaroni and cheese into her mouth, idly chewed on it without even throwing back a glance to show at least the tiniest amount of interest on the on-going [one-sided] conversation.

"So it did go well," was the next supposition when there was neither confirmation nor denial. "Otherwise, you would have never come back."

Annoyingly, there was still no single clarifying statement about the set of assumptions.

"Just tell me where the fuck we are at the mission! Is it still on, Mitchell?"

Beca finally directed her dark blue eyes at the inquisitive person and mumbled, "Fidelity to The Society."

There. Thud, somehow feeling sorry for his boss, huffed in dismay as he openly paid up a twenty-dollar bill to the Asian woman inaudibly celebrating next to him. Fine, he lost the stupid bet – the Head Phoenix seemed to have chosen the code over the love of her life. _Again._ – but what was more hurtful than losing some petty cash was the thought that two hearts were purposely broken. The notorious brunette would possibly never admit it, but actions would always speak louder than words.

On the other hand, Cynthia-Rose could not determine how she honestly felt about the revelation. She should be happy that the Head Phoenix was _selflessly_ performing her duty, proving her utmost commitment to the organization by sacrificing the most important person in her life. However, she could not help but wonder how Chloe was handling the situation at this particular moment and at the days ahead. Well, if Beca herself was finely coping then maybe the rest of the team should follow her lead.

"By the way," the mighty Phoenix spoke. "She accidentally met my neighbor too. You're right. She seriously thinks she's Stacie."

"That's not going to help you win Chloe back."

"I'm not trying to win her back, am I?"

Sadly true. And so CR let out a heavy sigh, feeling a little guilty. "We have a problem to worry about. Stan-"

As if on cue, the door flung open revealing a fuming Stan Mitchell with Fat Amy and Jesse standing behind him as the back-up party. Thud immediately bolted towards the intruder, grabbed him by the shirt, prepared to crush him any time until his boss advised him to terminate the job. He willingly let go of the tall young man in obedience yet left him with considerable amount of I'm-watching-you look. The young Mitchell didn't care, conversely. His eyes were already fixed at his sister whom they had all thought to be dead. He didn't have to say anything, the brunette already understood the whole picture that was about to unfold.

"There's a dead guy on the dance floor," Stan unconcernedly notified the club managers. "He told me I can't meet with the Head Phoenix."

CR shook her head in displeasure before making a call to the bar and order some people to clean up the mess downstairs.

"S-Stan broke the guy's neck," stuttered Jesse, earning him a nudge from the other IT expert beside him. They shouldn't be meddling. Their only task was to bring Stan to Pandemonium 2.0, and it had been already successfully completed.

"I could have you killed for it," Beca threatened her own brother, abandoning her seat to approach him.

He scoffed, "Why? Fidelity to The Society? Well, I'm not sworn to that bullshit of a code. I don't care if he was trying to fulfill his duty. I'm here to see my sister, the _alive_ one, and that's what I intend to accomplish."

"You've seen her, and now you may leave."

Beca made sure to present her cold pair of eyes at him, unyielding, before turning her back on her old team. Thud protectively stood in front of the group of intruders, blocking their view of the Head Phoenix, his arms folded over his chest and his face strongly implying that the spontaneous meeting had come to a close. Stan, however, refused to accept the bargain. Without any premature warning, he ran past the concrete body towards the mighty Phoenix, tackling her down in fury; Lilly had to move away from the sofa if she wanted to stay out of their way and live another day. The back-up party gasped in surprise while Thud was all set to throw the guy away. But CR, relaxed, instructed everyone to leave the two alone – it was just one of those manifestations of a healthy sibling rivalry. She had seen their worse fights.

The younger Mitchell elbowed her brother right on the jaw and with the loosened grip, hastily pushed him off of her back. She stood up, flipped her wavy hair into place, and straightened her clothes; she had no intentions to continue this gibberish brawl. But Stan was poised to attack once more, throwing a jab that was easily deflected. Either he never learned or the knowledge had most likely vanished in the span of over a year. Beca caught his arm, pulled it towards his back with a cracking twist then rammed him against the wall. He hurriedly reached for a dart missile from the nearby dartboard fixed on the wall with his free hand and stabbed it into his sister's left leg more than a couple of times. She made small grunts in reaction, but forced herself to ignore the whole point of reflex. Nonetheless, he took advantage of her slight moment of weakness and pushed her off with the strength of his back.

Maddened, Beca carelessly removed the dart from her flesh - trickles of blood seeped out of her skin - and drew out her pocket knife, pitched it towards her brother, pinning his sleeve to the wall with a minor amount of his skin scrape in the process. He grabbed the knife, but just as he did, the mighty Phoenix was quick enough to give him a head-butt followed by a set of hard punches on his face causing that dizzy feeling swirling in his brain. She reclaimed the knife to position it by his neck; one more move on his part and it would be very easy for the unimpaired beast to slit his throat.

"You. Little. Piece of shit."

Beca rolled her eyes at her brother's words of _endearment_ before releasing him from her wrath at once. Fine, they missed each other, and that was one way to demonstrate it. She handed the knife over to Thud for cleanup which he gladly agreed to undertake while Fat Amy rushed to Stan to attend to his injuries – his sleeve was stained with his own blood and his lips were bleeding. The younger Mitchell subsequently limped a little as she fetched a bottle of beer for an anxious Jesse, her very own way of telling him 'Calm down, bitch. I won't kill you'.

"You opened up a club and didn't invite me, kiddo." Stan glued his livid eyes towards the Head Phoenix. Thud and Lilly, not used to hearing the nickname, stiffed a laugh. _Kiddo._

"You're not sworn to a bullshit code, remember?" the younger Mitchell shot back.

"You're fucking alive and you never bothered to inform us!"

She pursed her lips and shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly in response.

"We're in," he firmly declared. "Jesse, Fat Amy, and I… we're _all_ in."

"No."

"Why not?" Stan asked in utter frustration. "Are you really that much of a monster to refuse any help from us, huh?"

"Yes."

God, this woman could be so fucking stubborn!

"We used to be one hell of a team, kiddo!"

"I've got a new team now." She then glanced at the Asian woman who was awkwardly standing next to Jesse. "That's Lilly; she's in-charge with the computer stuff. The big guy's Thud; he works all-around. And you know CR."

Fat Amy and Jesse both turned to the quiet IT expert, scrutinizing. What the hell could she do that Beca would actually prefer her services?

"Now if you don't have any more concerns, please do leave," CR told them based on the impression on her boss' face. "We have a mission to finish here, people."

"So you're just going to leave Chloe again, is that it?" Stan posted the question to his sister, ignoring the demand. He wasn't going to give up just yet, and the redhead was usually the perfect bait to tame the cold-blooded monster. He was going to win this debate; a triumphant grin was already set to make an appearance.

The mighty Phoenix, contrary to everybody's expectations, simply displayed her infamous blank stare. "Yes."

Stunned, Stan and his back-up party were left with their mouths gaping open. What the fuck! She just rejected the person she once swore to kill for and die for. Who was this monster who had the face of Beca Mitchell? Defeated, the guests made their way out of the room with Thud to reassure that they were really able to exit the building.

"You did what you have to do," Cynthia-Rose felt the need to cheer up her old friend even in a poor attempt and even with the absence of such request. "You're keeping them safe, Mitchell."

Wordless, the Head Phoenix put a cigarette stick in between her lips which Lilly automatically lit up. Yeah, she was doing the right thing. _Hopefully._

* * *

Aubrey let herself in after unlocking the front door with her own duplicate copy of the house keys. Nothing had changed since the last time she came over to check on her best friend creating this cloud of uncertainty whether or not the redhead was in fact already at home. Nevertheless, the Posen heiress made her way upstairs, and as she approached the Yellow Room, muffled sound of music could be heard coming from the bedroom. She pushed the door open, and there she was, thank god – Chloe Beale was seated by the foot of the bed staring at the iPhone docked on the pink speaker.

_[All I want is nothing more  
__To hear you knocking at my door]_

The blonde intentionally cleared her throat to make her presence noticeable, but the other didn't move an inch. Fine, it wasn't a certain brunette at the door.

_['Cause if I could see your face once more  
__I could die a happy man I'm sure]_

At least, no more Bon Iver to play his break-up songs over and over.

_[When you said your last goodbye  
__I died a little bit inside]_

Yet, this new music sounded a little more heartbreaking. If Beca Mitchell was the reason behind this, Aubrey would be more than determined to slaughter the so-called mighty Phoenix once and for all. Indeed, in Chloe's mind, those last few moments with the love of her life just kept flashing in an endless loop - her monotonous voice bidding goodbye, stomping on her already broken heart.

_[I lay in tears in bed all night  
__Alone without you by my side]_

The Posen heiress sat next to the lonely redhead and intentionally pressed on the pause button on the controls. "Let's take a break from that song. It's a little too sad, don't you think?"

As an answer, Chloe merely turned towards her best friend.

"She fucked up again?" asked the other.

The redhead gave a nod as she lost the courage to speak, her bright blue eyes glinting with tears that were set to fall any moment.

"Do you want to cry?"

Chloe eagerly nodded her head in an honest response.

"Come here," Aubrey pulled her best friend to envelope her in a comforting hug. Damn it, she was failing at her job again. First, it was douchebag Tom, and then here came monster Beca… if only she could build indestructible fences around the fragile redhead in order to save her from future heartbreaks, she would definitely do that without any doubt. "Let's make better decisions next time, shall we, Beale?"

Typical Aubrey Posen –trying to console someone in a form of an oblique judgment. But at least, it made Chloe beam for a second.

"Dogs should win an Oscar too, you know." It was an attempt at diversion as a form of solace - a random topic and completely irrelevant to the current situation. "I just need to put it out there. Somebody has to say this sentiment out loud. I mean, come on, they're the perfect creation. They make you go 'aw' to their incredible cuteness, laugh at their crazy antics, then the next thing you know they're making you bawl because… they simply have this kind of ability to tear your heart apart. You've seen Eight Below, right? If I could just reach into the screen and save them from all their struggles… Marley! Gosh, Marley… And Hooch! I can never forget Hooch, the only reason I watched that freaking movie… And Sam! I hated Will Smith for killing her off. God! And don't even make me start on Hachi! Nine years, Chloe! He waited for almost a decade! Everyday! At the same train station! Forget about The Notebook and Noah writing 365 letters. Hachiko is the real deal!"

What the hell was going on? Even the broken one furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. The blonde heiress was already crying her eyes out too. She was sobbing and shaking her head in mourning. Dogs.

"They're heroes and they deserve an Oscar too, Chloe."

Quite frankly, Chloe wasn't entirely sure how to feel about the whole thing. She knew Aubrey was trying to cheer her up. Talking about dogs usually worked on them, but suddenly, it took a wrong turn somewhere down the road.

"Stan's right," she decided to share, suppressing a small smile. "You're so easy to talk to… all I have to do is listen."

"You're not helping," complained the other, pressing on the play button on the controls in order to resume with the sad song. It's more heartfelt to cry with music playing on the background, she theorized.

_[But if you loved me  
__Why'd you leave me?  
__Take my body  
__Take my body]_

"Chloe?" Aubrey pouted her lips as she wept. "Hug?"

Giggling and sobbing at the same time, Chloe cuddled up with her best friend as they both shed some tears. Yeah, they appeared like a pair of crazy people. In their own terms though, if they were being honest, it was humbly called _friendship_. And it was a friendship that could endure any form of heartbreak.

_[All I want is,  
__And all I need is  
__To find somebody.  
__I'll find somebody like you]_

Sometimes, to give comfort, one didn't have to do anything. One didn't have to say anything. One just had to be there, physically and sympathetically, with the other person. Just the thought that still somebody gave a damn about your shit was more than enough. But for some reason, it was the same instance that pain would creep into one's deepest emotions. Was this how Stacie felt all those times? Was this the feeling of being part of The List - the pain of rejection and the foolish desire to come back for more?

_[So you brought out the best of me,  
__A part of me I'd never seen.  
__You took my soul and wiped it clean.  
__Our love was made for movie screens]_

"You're going to be okay, Chloe." Aubrey finally found the courage to reassure it. "Beca didn't break you beyond repair, right? 'Cause I'm seriously going to murder her. I promise."

Chloe put on an unwavering smile. "Give me today. Just one more day to be a pathetic ass. Then starting tomorrow, Beca Mitchell can never hurt me again. I'm done being her Hachiko, Aubrey… So yeah, I guess I'm going to be okay."

_[But if you loved me  
__Why'd you leave me?  
__Take my body,  
__Take my body  
__All I want is,  
__And all I need is  
__To find somebody  
__I'll find somebody.]_

She once thought that Beca's death was the biggest blow of all. It turned out, dealing with an alive Beca was a thousand times harder, a more painful punch because at least when she supposedly died, Chloe was sure that she was loved by the horrible monster. This time, it only seemed like a breath of lie.

* * *

A pair of Syndics previously assigned to monitor the activities of The Secret Society stood before Bumper Allen equipped with an important report they were about to deliver to him.

"What is it?" the Head Syndic asked.

"That big guy we've been suspicious about, the one who had been keeping an eye on Beale's daughter, we followed him, boss. We cannot confirm his allegiance yet, but we saw him enter a club."

"Then of course, he's a fucking Phoenix!" Bumper ridiculed. "They disguise their quarters in a club! How can you not remember that, idiots?"

"Boss, it's a different club… it's called Pandemonium 2.0."

_Pandemonium_. The name itself made the young leader shut his mouth in disbelief. More accurately, for a moment there, he had completely forgotten to breathe. His mental being had made an abrupt temporary shut down to address this new-found information. But Pandemonium was already gone!

"Pandemonium," he repeated just to make sure.

The pair nodded their heads in affirmation. "Also, this morning, we saw Stan Mitchell enter the same establishment together with those two other crooks."

"What is Stan Mitchell doing there?"

"We don't know, boss. We couldn't risk getting caught. But he left after a short while. Should we start following him now too?"

"No," Bumper raised a hand and shook his head. He had a different plan. "Keep an eye on that Pandemonium 2.0. Monitor every single person who comes and goes. If you recognize any Phoenix, shoot them dead. Right on the spot."

"Yes, boss."

"Off you go," the Head Syndic waved them away then turned towards his Right Hand, still dumbfounded by the discovery. "Could it be?"

Donald let out a sigh, afraid to give a wrong answer. "Rumors could be just as dangerous as the truth, boss."

"I've seen Pandemonium burn to the ground with my own two eyes."

"But you didn't see the mighty Phoenix die in it, did you?"

The inferior Syndic had a point. Bumper felt this sudden rush of fear in his system. Beca Mitchell couldn't be alive. She was surely going to ruin everything one more time.

"Tell everybody to work faster while I try to convince Clarence Beale to join our team. For the meantime, we need to retrieve the stolen information as soon as possible. We cannot be stuck here. _If_ the mighty Phoenix is indeed alive, then she will surely go after the treasure too. We can't afford to lose it this time, dude. Failure is not one of our options."

The Hand slightly made a bow then immediately headed out to fulfill his task, leaving the Head Syndic to contemplate on his own until a smirk emerged on his mouth. Just no. _Impossible_. Beca Mitchell could not be alive.

* * *

"God, you are such a mess!" Ronie exclaimed at her daughter as if Beca was a seven-year-old _son_ who loved to dive into the pool of mud that never seemed to dry up in the school playground during recess getting all his clothes so dirty in the process. "Young lady, what kind of a cabin are you trying to explore in Savannah, huh?"

The actual picture was that the notorious brunette arrived at her mother's office with her clothes ripped at random places while bloodstains embellished them courtesy of the cuts and scrapes she obtained on her body; a little cosmetics could be added and she would be good to go for a Halloween party as an authentic-looking zombie. Fucking Back to Basics, it made this happen! The Chief Directress applied Betadine solution using a Q-tip on the remaining wounds on the young Mitchell's back, lacking the necessary tenderness, not realizing that she was almost flinching in pain.

"If you must know, mom, a mechanical bear almost tore your _human_ daughter into pieces."

Ronie immediately took a break from her nursing duties to check on the look on Beca's face. Of course, it was vacant as usual. But she must be serious just because she never kid around.

"Are you sure you don't want your brother back on your team?" she asked.

Her daughter rolled her eyes because they were going back to that discussion again when it had been long decided already.

"Fine," Ronie held up her hands in surrender before covering the wounds with adhesive bandages and gauze pads. "I'll shut up now."

_Thank you!_

"But seriously," she just couldn't stop her mouth, and Beca groaned in annoyance. Ronie and Aubrey could play mother and daughter in a movie, and they would totally kill it. "It's been a week and every day you come in here covered with blood and injuries. I worry too, you know."

"You're _always_ worried."

"That's because I'm your mother!"

"Well, there's nothing to worry about."

_Knock knock. _Chloe, unaware of the circumstance behind the door, entered the office. The redhead came to a stop as soon as she recognized the phoenix tattoo printed on the exposed skin that never failed to astound her. Rapidly, she ceased breathing and her heart was beating so fast it felt like it was going to explode right then and there.

_Goddamn it! Stop it, Chloe! You're not supposed to feel anything anymore!_

"Hello, Chloe." Ronie had a big grin on her face, clearly entertained by this whole scenario.

"I-I'm sorry," the newly-arrived visitor stammered her words as she fidgeted with her fingers. "Y-Your secretary told me to go right in, Ronie. But yeah, it's my fault. I-I should have... you know."

"Oh it's just Beca," the other wickedly made it sound like it didn't matter at all. Yes, Ronie, it's _just_ Beca. "You've seen _all_ of her anyway, I can testify."

Okay, awkward.

In her customary quiet self, the third person in the room picked up the sky blue-colored shirt that her mother had prepared for her and put it on. Little by little, the landscape of her bare back faded away from Chloe's view. Was it the time to start breathing normally again? No, because then Beca turned around to face her ex - that insensitive poker face on display especially for the redheaded monster.

"Uh…" the young heiress diverted her attention to the Chief Directress. "We're almost done with playtime."

"I should go check on the food then," Ronie hurriedly cleaned up all the mess lying on the table. "I'll see everyone at the hall for dinner, alright, Chloe?"

Chloe produced a nod while concentrating her mind to fight off the urge to eye her former girlfriend as the notorious brunette silently limped passed her. _What_ _happened, _she found herself curious. She was still allowed to care, right? But no, she wasn't going to ask.

"Beca, stay," Ronie ordered as if her daughter was a well-trained dog.

The mighty Phoenix turned around to shoot her mother a questioning look. Why the fuck would she stick around?

"It's how you pay me your debts."

_What debts?_

"You have a staggering amount of unpaid medical bills with me. Stay or I'll ground you for life."

Beca deliberately scoffed at her mother's proclamation. That's absurd, and this was not high school! Ronie, however, was already ignoring her as she walked towards the door.

"Chloe?" she paused to address the redhead. "Benjamin is here today, isn't he?"

"Uh… yes. I left him with the kids."

And the Chief Directress turned to the horrible monster with a mischievous smirk, "You should definitely, absolutely, _totally_ stay. After all… there's nothing to worry about, remember? Have fun, young lady."

Bad, bad mother! Ronie left the duo a playful wink then exited through the door. Perfect, a pair of former lovers deliberately stranded in the office. Since when did the atmosphere in here became this suffocating? Even more when two shades of blue intimately met for the first time since one week ago. So both had the chance to win this staring contest; Beca had the advantage – she could live for the rest of her life without saying a word – but Chloe was strong-minded about never letting the beast who broke her heart win again.

Fine, it was a tie for this round. The mighty Phoenix headed out without waiting for her company. Gone were the days when they would walk side-by-side, their fingers intertwined, and laughed to the corny joke for the day. The young heiress took a deep breath for support – where's Aubrey when you need her – then followed the brunette into the hallway. She earned an explicit death glare from the secretary on her way out, by the way.

The trip to the open field felt like a very complex maze. Chloe could swear it had never taken her this long and agonizing to reach the destination. Beca must be the one to blame. It wasn't because she was limping. She could sprint, but the feeling would still be the same. It was her presence, her existence. God, why the hell did she have to ruin everything?

"I don't look like a fucking idiot in this shirt, do I?"

Remarkably, it was Beca who passed on silence. And Chloe couldn't help but giggle at the inquiry. The mighty Phoenix sporting a sky blue shirt with Finn printed on it would always be hilarious.

"I never thought you're a fan of Adventure Time."

The brunette huffed. She was beginning to think that her mother chose the shirt on purpose. Stupid mother, stupid mechanical bear!

"Remember the first time you put on the yellow-"

Chloe shut her mouth immediately at the realization. _Wrong!_ Just the wrong thing to bring up in this chit chat! She was mentally screaming at her own idiot brain while even the other felt awkward about it, knowingly clearing out her throat to ease the tension. And the eerie sound of tranquility spread in the air once more. Yeah, it was better to simply leave things unsaid. Less mistakes, less regrets.

"Becky!"

They had finally reached the open field, thank goodness – more people and more space to keep them both sane. Chloe was instantly greeted by Ben while cute little Maverick eagerly snatched his friend like a long lost valued possession. Of course Beca tried to get away from him, but his clingy hands were gripping on her arm too tight.

"Hi! I'm Ben," the young businessman offered a handshake with a friendly smile plastered on his lips. "It's nice to finally meet you, Becky."

The mighty Phoenix glanced at the hand hanging up for her then shot back an ever cold stare. So this was _him_. This was the threat her mother had been so worried about. He looked even more wonderful up close than from a long distanced view. She hated him already. No, it was worse than that. She _couldn't_ trust him.

Alarmed when Maverick found the act of rudeness amusing as the kid began to snicker, Chloe took the responsibility to fix the crack. "She's actually my-"

"An old friend," Beca cut her off immediately and the redhead gave her an odd look. Really, an old friend? That was it?

"Oh so I suppose you're more familiar with this stuff than I am," the newbie became more enthusiastic to talk to the brunette after finding out that she was actually capable of speaking. Take the hint, man! She didn't want to converse with you! She's not even a people person. "Well, you came right on time for our last activity."

There was not even the infinitesimal amount of excitement on Beca's part.

"We're about to play Air Golf. The kids are already divided into two groups. You can join either if you want."

"Join my team, Becky!" Maverick tugged his friend's arm, pleading.

As a product of habit, she turned to the redhead.

"I'm not playing," Chloe strongly shook her head. "I suck at it."

Frankly, Beca had an empty facial expression. It was a meaningless message to the naked eye; funny how the other managed to decipher it. One look, and without realizing, they could still comprehend one another.

"Ben's really great though," the redhead added, just being honest.

"I'll be on the other team," proclaimed Ben. Nobody's asking, man!

But as strange as it seemed, those last two sentences triggered a source of motivation for the very quiet cricket. "So what do I do?"

"It has the same rules as regular golf," he summarized. Yes, Ben, because everybody was familiar with golf. "Here, each player is given a ping pong ball, and then, on several tree branches, we have wired hangers bent into circular targets as holes. One simply has to shoot the ball into the open space. Every time it fails to go through, a point will be added to your score. But hit the tiny bell suspended from a string right in the middle, a point will be subtracted. The group with the lowest score wins."

Ben was already holding up a ping pong ball for Beca. After much mental deliberation plus that I-am-so-good-at-this-game impression (it was just her own imagination, to be honest) just made her hate him even more, she decided to accept the challenge and Maverick and the rest of the team roared in high spirits.

"Are you ready?" asked Mr. Perfect in a friendly manner.

The mighty Phoenix unexpectedly wore a smirk. Sure, she was ready to win this shit. She was ready to beat the hell out of him. She was ready to prove that she was much better… for Chloe.

* * *

In the middle of the early dinner, Maverick held up a regular golf cup trophy over his head while the rest of the kids around him cheered and looked up to the item, wonderstruck. Thanks to Beca's perfect streak on hitting all the tiny bells with her ping pong ball, the group won the Air Golf tournament. Although, the greatest prize for her would have been the pleasure to witness an image of defeat on the face of Benjamin McDouglas. Unfortunately, the guy was a freaking good loser – he was sport.

"You cheated," Ronie accused her own daughter, handing over a cup of orange juice into Beca's hand as they stood in the corner of the hall.

The notorious brunette stared at the healthy substance and wondered if they ever had alcohol for dinner at Barden. "I played by the rules."

"You've been throwing knives since you were three!" the Chief Directress quietly hissed. "You can hit a bustling dragonfly in your sleep! You competing in an amateur Air Golf tournament is like Usain Bolt challenging an ignorant athlete to a sprint match at the Olympics. That's cheating in every angle."

"He coerced me to play."

"_Convinced_," the other corrected. "Nobody can _coerce_ you to do something. People die trying to do that. You're the oh-so-great mighty Phoenix."

Beca rolled her eyes and let out a huff. Her mother was unreasonably complicated. She was asked to stay, and she did. She was told to have fun, and it happened. But at the end of the day, she still did everything wrong. She still ended up as the bad guy. Because she's the mighty Phoenix. Fucking logic.

"You're jealous," Ronie suddenly concluded with an irritating titter.

The other didn't respond. That new allegation was simply absurd.

"Benjamin managed to convince you because you're _so _jealous of him."

The younger brunette finished her cup of orange juice, sloppily crushed the container in her hand, and tossed the trash into the giant flower pot to her left with the intention of changing the subject. Her mother though was already too amused that even such foul act didn't bother her anymore, especially when the sight of Chloe giggling at whatever Ben had told her was crystal clear from their view. Ronie was cracking up loudly, playfully mocking the callous beast.

"They look so cute together, what do you think?" she taunted. "She's such a darling and he's the perfect gentleman. Match made in heaven, I say. Give him a few more weeks, two months top. Chloe will soon be over you and she'll be falling head over heels in love with Benjamin. She will offer him whatever is left of her broken heart, and he will treat her well and will never take his princess for granted. Their wedding will be in Paris, so romantic. Then they're going to have adorable ginger babies and they will live happily ever after."

That's... _possible_.

"How does that feel, heartless monster? Are you going to cry now? Does it hurt you? Is it killing you already? Should I be worried about you? Nah, you brought this to yourself, honey. So suck it up!"

"Why are you doing this?" the mighty Phoenix had to ask. This was the worst bullying experience ever.

"Because I love you. Because I'm on Team Phoenix. Do you want to know what I honestly think? I think you deserve this particular kind of pain. You have to know what it feels like to lose Chloe. And not just lose-her-break-up-with-her kind of pain. You have to lose her to someone else and feel the pain of knowing that there's actually someone else who could make the love of your life feel genuinely happy. Maybe then you'd realize just how much you love her. Maybe then you'd go 'screw the code, I only want to be with her'."

The young Mitchell slowly turned to her mother, her face was still a blank canvass but idea was obviously messing her mind.

"Let me show you a glimpse of what you're missing."

Ronie left a wink before dashing to the microphone to gain everybody's attention. She made this little speech then publicly asked the beloved redhead to grace the audience with a song. Chloe gladly took the stage, picked up a ukulele, and started singing; the kids singing along as much as they could.

_ [I just want to be ok, be ok, be ok  
__I just want to be ok today]_

"Hey you," Ben joined the very quiet cricket in the corner. "What are you doing here all by yourself?"

He had guessed that she wouldn't respond, but it's worth a try.

"You're so quiet," he told her the obvious.

_And you talk too much_, she slammed in her thoughts with a sigh.

_[I just want to feel today, feel today, feel today  
__I just want to feel something today]_

"I'm not surprised that you're friends with Chloe," he made another attempt at striking up a conversation. "I mean, she has that kind of effect… brightening up people's lives."

She knew that, of all people.

"I'm not in the right position to say this but… that girl, that girl who left her… she must be goddamn crazy, am I right? Chloe Beale is… _the one_! She's everything anybody could ever ask for. So that girl who left her, she must be such an idiot."

Beca required herself to meet his innocent gaze. Man, he had no freaking idea who he was talking to.

_[Open me up and you will see  
__I'm a gallery of broken hearts]_

"If I had Chloe, I'll never let her go for whatever reason," confessed Ben with a daydreaming smile. "You've probably met _that_ girl. So… tell me, what kind of a person would ever consider to leave _the one_ just like that?"

"She's a monster," the brunette heard her own voice. It was calm yet filled with vexation and remorse. "She's a _stupid_ fucking monster."

Ben chuckled because he was able to make her talk and the fact that she was angry about that girl. Man, he really had no idea. He had no idea how she felt at this very moment – it was the exact same sensation her mother wanted her to feel. It's about to happen. She could truly lose Chloe. To _him_. And listening to her sing this instance, it felt like Chloe herself was already asking her to stay out her life too. That's only fair, right?

_[I'm beyond repair, let me be  
__And give me back my broken parts]_

* * *

Beca was getting ready to leave for Pandemonium when there was a knock on the door. She took a deep breath to push back the emergence of a bad temper because there was a good chance that it was her nosy neighbor again. How many times did she have to tell Cynthia-Rose that she didn't need a _babysitter_? She secured her pocket knife into place then lazily marched towards the door. She pulled it open and a fist adorned with an expensive ring instantly punched her on the face. _Hard._ She hastily pressed on her nose to stop the bleeding, one eye squinted to witness the last person on earth she wanted to see frantically jumping up and down and shaking her hand in anguish. How the hell did Aubrey Posen found her? Had she been following the mighty Phoenix like a snoopy dog? Perhaps, the apartment was not a sanctuary anymore.

* * *

_Songs: (1) All I Want - Kodaline [Thanks to **BeChloeFan01**, you saved my ass!] (2) Be OK - Ingrid Michaelson_

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Pitch Perfect.


	10. Teams

**_NightmareWalker: _**_(SPOILER) We might learn about the reason this chapter..._

**_asdfg, MysticFalls94, gleekathoner, charliepollock1357, BeChloeFan01, quinn, Guest_**_ (Mar 20): Aubrey is the real hero. LOL._

**_avidreader:_**_ You'll find out more about her._

**_drp:_**_ We'll save the 'get together' for desert. :)_

**_PitchPerfectLover:_**_ First, Beca needed to be punched emotionally and physically. Second, I know Ben will never win your heart no matter what, but he'll be staying. And third, I honestly don't know what to feel about the Beverick ship (God, did I just give them a name?). Anyway, I hope you enjoy my future jokes. LOL._

**_Guest_**_ (Mar 17): I think it would take more than jealousy to make her change her mind._

**_Moxain:_**_ What?_

**_Guest101:_**_ Well, there's got to be a better way to protect them other than hurting them. I mean, for instance, she shouldn't have kissed Chloe and asked her to stay if she would just end up shutting her out. To me, that was kind of a selfish thing to do which is ironic when she's actually trying to be selfless. I don't know if that makes sense to you._

**_madness2013:_**_ Let's just say they had interesting dinners. _

**_Kartofell, leijan: _**_Ronie's a gem. :)_

**_RobOverstreet: _**_I love Ingrid Michaelson! But it's such a shame that I've never heard of Kodaline 'til a special friend recommended the song. Well, __I must say those Barden parts were my favorite. I wanted Beca and Ben to have a close interaction. And I really don't want Chloe to be a boring damsel in distress. PS: You guys are kind enough to read the story and leave reviews. The least I could do is to not be a quiet cricket._

**_brittanysnodes:_**_ 'Best chapter by far' - I like the sound of it. :) I truly enjoy Chloe trying to be strong here._

**_DJBMitch:_**_ That's exactly my thoughts, dear. But I have yet to discover what the future holds for Ben. _

**_oilzz and stuff:_**_ I really tried to inject Fat Amy's humor into the previous chapters, but I guess the bits weren't enough. Well, this chapter allowed her to be more noticeable._

**_Yan:_**_ Yes, proud Filipino! :) I can tell you right now that Ben is not a Syndic._

**_Guest_**_ (Mar 16): Beca knows that she wants to be with Chloe, alright? It's just that she can't._

**_Guest_**_ (Mar 15): You're just as amazing! Thanks for the lovely review. :)_

**_badwriters:_**_ Aw, Thud. I really like that big guy too! :)_

_One of my weaknesses as a writer is managing more than a couple of characters at once. It feels like taking a fucking trigonometry exam for me. So if this turns into a crap halfway through, could you please bear with me?_

* * *

CHAPTER NINE: **Teams**

High heels, black boots, a Birkin bag and a black leather jacket were carelessly left dumped on the floor. Aubrey could still feel the pang of pain throbbing across her knuckles and the cold compress upon her bruises was not at all making her feel at ease. Oh her porcelain skin, her beautiful fingers; they were ruined – they also looked filthy disgusting – and it was all because of Beca Mitchell, that evil minion who meant nothing but trouble to everyone. Worse, the Posen heiress looked around the vicinity and found no other place to rest except from the bed. A dismayed scowl formed on her face; how the hell could someone live in a garbage like this in the first place? The very quiet cricket who was seated on the furniture must have guessed the thoughts floating inside that golden head because then she sent this look which sort of meant _'You're welcome to sit next to me if you want.'_

Aubrey earnestly considered the offer, running her judgmental eyes over the bed for strict inspection. The sheets appeared to be clean. As a matter of fact, they were relatively too tidy exceeding her set of expectations from a criminal who never obtained formal education and grew up mostly underground. More so, her legs were already too tired to last another minute of standing. She had almost arrived at a final decision when her brain reminded her of a very significant factor. She coyly tilted her head to the side with questioning expression that was tinted with a pinch of awkwardness combined with minor embarrassment.

_'You and my best friend had some kinky make-up sex right there, didn't you?'_

Comprehending the message conveyed for her, Beca prompted to look away. The thought that this blonde bitch was knowledgeable about her sex life was a terror. Taking the cue, Aubrey took a deep breath and desperately shook her head in an attempt to shake off the mental picture – the sexual positions in her imagination were getting weirder and weirder each time. God. So, she swallowed her abundance of sophistication and poise then slumped on the floor right by the wall. The brunette glimpsed at the area – that was actually where the real action started during that night – but she would bury that information in her own good conscience and just let her visitor be as [not so] comfortable as possible. She never reckoned that having her ex's best friend over could bring this much stress.

Unexpectedly though, the typically graceful woman began to laugh. Hysterically. It wasn't a sarcastic one, but she seemed to be really pleased. Perhaps, it was because she could make out the pair of dark blue orbs struggling to peer at her just above a hand pressing a pack of cold ice upon a broken nose. Who would have thought that a girly girl young heiress like her would be able to do such damage on the so-called indestructible warrior? Thanks to her fit of rage that needed to be released in a form of violent measure.

"Three," the uninvited guest finally decided to speak up. "I was supposed to hit you three times. But _gosh_, nobody told me it's going to hurt this much!"

The expert in this particular craft deliberately rolled her eyes. It was never really that easy.

"At least I broke your nose," smirked the young heiress in utmost fulfillment.

"You could have at least removed your _fucking_ ring," the other shot back, applying more pressure on her wound to further stop the bleeding.

"All I had to do was to give you three punches and even on that job I still managed to fail."

Beca could detect the sudden disappointment that strained Aubrey's voice. She realized that breaking Chloe's heart was like hitting two birds with one stone; in the process, she had also broken Aubrey's. Best friends. They always came in a package deal.

"One punch for playing dead," the blonde elaborated, "because seriously, I cried so hard at your funeral my make-up was a mess. One punch for hurting Chloe… _countless_ times, you pint-sized jerk! And one punch for compelling me to actually root for McDouglas!"

"You're rooting for that guy?" the young Mitchell had to ask because Aubrey's blessing, as _the _best friend, was the highest form of advantage and reassurance in this game.

"Because we all thought you're already dead, dumbass!"

"So you're still on Team Phoenix," supposed the brunette. Better put it out there to make things clear and essentially acquire a proof of approval to rub on Mr. Perfect's undeniably gorgeous face later on.

The Posen heiress, however, didn't wear a positive sign. She was rather apologetic and confused by her own mixed emotions. Had this conversation happened over a year ago, the answer would have been, without any doubt, an affirmative statement in favor of Team Phoenix. But everything was already different at this point. How could you root for someone who, for gazillion times, had chosen to leave? How could you fight for someone who wasn't so sure to stay herself?

"I thought we have the same job here," was all she could reply. "I thought we both agreed to protect Chloe."

"That's what I'm trying to do," the mighty Phoenix insisted in a whisper.

The other let out a chuckle because the claim sounded too inane for her to believe it. "You're not protecting her. Beca, you're destroying her."

Beca lowered her head because it was a string of painful truth.

"I can't believe I actually let you in and let you tear my best friend apart. You're supposed to be different. You're supposed to be _that_ miracle she's been waiting to happen. Now it turns out… you're even worse than Tom Jacobs."

Really, that's the worst insult one could ever throw on someone who'd been in a romantic relationship.

"So maybe I'm no longer on Team Phoenix," Aubrey declared one of the brunette's greatest fears. "But I'm not on Team Mr. Perfect either, alright? I'm on Team Ginger… always been, will always be."

At least! That was quite a relief. Beca was already losing Chloe, she couldn't lose Aubrey too.

"I should warn you though. It doesn't really matter what I think. It's not going to change anything… because I'm not the one who has to make a choice here. It's you, Beca. After all, which side are you really on? Are you still on Team Ginger?"

The horrible monster essentially directed her eyes towards the toughest judge in this trial, confident because it was the easiest question yet, and it was the answer she was most sure about. "I choose Chloe. I'll go through hell and back just to make that choice. Because I love her. And that's exactly why I have to shut her out. I'm going to lie more than necessary. I'm going to stray a hundred more times. I'm going to hurt her more than she could possibly handle. But all because I love her. I love her, Aubrey… and _that_ is never gonna go away."

"Did you tell her that?" Aubrey questioned, puzzled more than ever because last time she checked this same person rejected the same redhead.

A head slowly shaking was the only response.

"Why?" was the ear-piercing scream of a follow-up packed with _immense_ frustration.

The mighty Phoenix carelessly tossed the pack of ice on the bed and made her way towards the guest seated on the floor. She then kneeled down right in front of the other, keeping a distance which would still allow an audible undertone. Surprisingly, she seemed so terrified about something, a far-off image from her well-known persona.

"Nobody can keep a secret forever," she mumbled the words as if they were too confidential for the rest of the universe to overhear them. The truth was this wasn't just about the coveted treasure. It wasn't just about helping twelve million people. "The second the enemy finds out that I'm alive, he would not think twice to hurt Chloe. I almost lost her when I tried to break all the rules and fight for us, okay? And that's the _scariest_ shit that ever happened in my life. I'm not going to take that risk again. Now the only way to keep her safe is to keep her away from me. I don't want to hurt Chloe, but I will when that's what it takes to keep her alive. You see, the more she hates me and the more she wants me out of her world, the safer she is. Do you understand, Aubrey?"

Speechless, Aubrey could only nod her golden head as a response. That powerful blank stare glaring back at her. Just how could someone be so much of a heartless monster and a freaking knight in a shining armor both at the same time?

Beca stood up and walked towards the fridge, grabbed a bottle of beer – seemed like she'd be staying in for the night after all – and then found the decency to offer one to her guest. Nobody expected it, the brunette was only waiting for the signal for her to put it back to be honest, but Aubrey whole-heartedly accepted; looking like a redneck wasn't the worst thing to happen, she realized. The other froze in place for a moment before eventually shrugging her shoulders in compliance and returned to the floor, finding a place right next to the blonde. She easily removed each bottle cap with her thumb, a trick she had required herself to learn leaving the other in a state of incredulity, then both leaned back to the wall and stared into space.

"I'm sorry I punched you," the Posen heiress told her best friend's ex which she kind of regretted a few seconds later when the sickening bitter taste of beer had hit her tongue and made her shudder involuntarily.

"Apology doesn't bring back the dead," was the ice cold retort from her seatmate. Yeah, and it doesn't fix a broken nose. Not even a broken heart.

* * *

It was already past midnight – a line of young adults still stood outside of Pandemonium 2.0 trying to get into one of the hottest club in town, yet Beca Mitchell was still nowhere to be found. She was supposed to come over as usual. Cynthia-Rose stood by the club entrance and let out a heavy sigh. Resting her hands on her hips, she was beginning to realize that equipping the very quiet cricket with a communication device was still worthless when they couldn't install a GPS or any other way to track her for security reasons. She was still always out of reach anyway, and her urge to respond still depended on her own caprice. Additionally, maintaining the address in secrecy turned out to be a great disadvantage for the rest of the team.

"Yo," she called on the bouncer assigned at the main rope stanchions. "Have you seen the Head Phoenix?"

He politely shook his head. "She hasn't arrived."

"Okay, thanks."

CR gave a small nod of appreciation before her face eventually fell into a frown. Where on earth was the young Mitchell? Then out of the blue, Lilly jumped in front of her and started moving her lips as she spoke.

"I haven't seen the babysitter around too," was what CR had managed to comprehend.

Fucking babysitter-slash-neighbor had not reported yet either. What's the whole sense of assigning someone to look after their best weapon when there was no updates? What's the entire point of the idea of communication when neither of them bothered to communicate at all? But why was she even worrying this much in the first place? It's the mighty Phoenix! Beca could most likely survive anything. However, this irksome feeling building up in her chest was just too valid to be ignored.

"Try to contact them again," she instructed the Asian IT expert.

Lilly was about to go back into the building and perform her task when Thud hurriedly emerged from the dark alley, crossed over the rope stanchions and pulled both women for an emergency meeting.

"Where's boss?" he tried to appear and sound as calm as possible, but the beads of sweat and the fretful breathing pattern had betrayed him.

"No word about her," answered CR. This wasn't making things easier for her either.

Thud became at ease for a moment, but the image of horror never left his face. "Good. Now both of you should go back inside and stay right there until I say so."

"What's happening?"

"I think I saw some Syndics lurking-"

The big guy was never able to finish that sentence. Gun shots were fired surely from the said Syndics spotted around the area. A team of Phoenixes dispersed for this kind of occasion fired back from their strategic hiding places instigating a shootout. The line of young adults scattered in panic, some innocent club goers fell dead on the street even before they could duck for a make-believe security.

Thud immediately grabbed Cynthia-Rose and Lilly to haul them back into the building, his concrete wall of a body was supposedly intended to serve as a means of protection. Suddenly, the IT expert made a needless stop on their way as more gun shots were fired. She instantly passed out and the big guy caught her in his huge arms; upon checking, his arms were already stained with her blood oozing from the wounds obtained on her back. _No, not Lilly._ She was easily carried back into the club while CR rushed to summon the Medical Team. Lilly's breathing was heading towards a turtle pace. Her heartbeat was quickly following the lead. It was going to be a race against time, and it's going to be a tough call in the end. Her teammates could only hope for the best.

* * *

A dozen emptied beer bottles littered the space in between the two pairs of feet sprawled on the floor. Only three was consumed by the blonde heiress, yet she was the one incontestably far-off from any sense of sobriety. Maybe it was the booze manipulating her perspectives; the small, grubby and dull apartment unit no longer made her postulate that she was a claustrophobic. All of a sudden, it seemed like touring around any other Scottish castle she had ever been to.

"I-I should have brought a baseball bat," she slurred in her drunken state. "Smack you with it instead of punching you with my precious knuckles. It still fucking hurts, you know."

She pouted her lips as she examined her hand. Several seconds later, she was laughing at them for some undisclosed reason. Beca opened another bottle of beer with her thumb and consumed a big gulp. She was going to need it if she would have to endure another hour with her wasted guest. Had she known this would happen, she would have never attempted to be a little hospitable and rudely offered nothing – _just throw her out after making your point_, she made a mental note to herself.

"It's not Leo's year, is it?" Aubrey was rambling once more for consecutive instance. "But then it's never his year to begin with. Can they not just create a special award for him? Like, the Leonido DiCarpo Award for being Lego DiCapricho. He would totally win it! Hands down."

What the hell was she talking about this time? And why the fuck was Beca even listening to Aubrey's nonsense?

"Wait, why is your face like that?" the Posen heiress turned to her seatmate, _fascinated_. "It's always… freaking… vacant. You're like Putin… only you're not. You never smile! You just… stare at people. It's very rude, Beca. Very very rude! My dad who thinks he's a fucking god would send you to prison."

Impostor Vladimir Putin took a deep breath in the hopes of impossibly stretching out her shrinking tolerance. One more sentence. Just one more sentence from the blonde bitch who couldn't handle a sip of beer and she swore to knock her out to finally put her to bed.

"Beca. Chloe." The drunken one seemed to be contemplating for a moment until she snapped, "Bechloe!"

Okay, that sounded ridiculous but ridiculously not at the same time.

"I'm on Team Bechloe. Yeah, 'cause it's the best team in the fucking planet!"

Whenever the mighty Phoenix said she would do something brutal, then she would certainly do it. And that's more than a single sentence spitting out of the blonde's mouth. But fine, she'd let it all slide. She'd also tolerate the fact that Aubrey was already scooching over and burying her face on the brunette's shoulder; calming down signaling that sleep might be around the corner. But only because she was on Team Bechloe.

"I still expect you to win her back, hmm?"

"Hmm," was the first time Beca made a response to her drunken guest. It was adorned with no emotion, just a mere strand of air yet complete with a promise of genuine love and adoration.

But frankly, the horrible monster could only get out of character for a very limited period of time, so thank god when a loud knock was heard through the door. She had a well-founded reason to recklessly push her wasted guest off of her. She left her gauchely lolled on the floor to greet her new visitor; her neighbor was anxiously standing behind the invisible barrier.

"I know you hate it when I-"

The taller brunette stopped halfway through, distracted by the injured nose as well as the presence of the blonde stranger gawking at her.

"You didn't drug her, did you?" she needed to ask the killer machine.

Unfortunately, Beca simply put that poker face on display.

"Are you operating a sex den here? Tell me the truth."

Aubrey, half asleep, burst into a fit of laughter. "Don't be so silly, Stacie."

"She called me Stacie," the neighbor told the mighty Phoenix as if the other was not present to witness it.

"What do you need?" Beca asked instead to change the subject.

And the latest uninvited guest was quickly reminded of her original purpose of even daring to knock on the devil's door. She looked straight into those dark blue eyes in trepidation. It was definitely a bad news, a_ very_ bad news. "The Syndicate has found Pandemonium 2.0… Lilly's dead."

The Head Phoenix exhaled sharply in sorrow and guilt. _No._ That should have been her, not Lilly. What she had been dreading about was starting to happen; the enemies were closing in. The new Pandemonium was no longer safe. One friend was down, and there was only so much that the mighty Phoenix could do to save the rest of them.

* * *

A black Honda Accord parked on the concealed lot at the back of Pandemonium 2.0 as early as seven in the morning. The engine was soon switched off then its five passengers alighted the vehicle. They were immediately approached by this same guy with biceps the size of beach balls and two other men equipped with firearm; Stan received most of the dirty looks might be because he posted as the biggest threat and his only ticket out of trouble was his personal relation to the Head Phoenix. Meanwhile, Jesse could hardly control his shaky arms as he tried to hide behind Fat Amy. Aubrey, on the other hand, squeezed her best friend's hand tightly to release her frightened spirit.

At Thud's signal, his men proceeded to inspect their guests, searching for any life-threatening weapon for confiscation, startling most of them. The Secret Society had been extra cautious in terms of security since Lilly's death. More importantly, the Head Phoenix was present at the vicinity; they had the duty to protect her.

"If you want to get some, you'll have to work harder than groping," the Australian chick casually advised the man inspecting her.

He compelled himself to avoid her eyes in order to ignore the growing temptation. What? She's still curvy.

"Hey!" Jesse tried to retrieve his pocket PC device when the other confiscated it. "Give it back to me!"

Stan directed his sharpened eyes towards the one who seemed to command the group. "It's just a harmless device."

Giving in, Thud gave his half-hearted consent and the pair of men cleared the rest of the group from the inspection. He then turned around towards the backdoor and led the quietly antsy trip to the bar where Cynthia-Rose and the Head Phoenix had been waiting. Notably, Beca had a bandage on her nose, yet she appeared like her old self, the one who had never met Chloe Beale to brighten up her pitch-black life; she seemed more monstrous than ever which was quite alarming even to her allies.

"We're sorry to hear about Lilly," her brother sincerely offered the group's condolences.

"We only need Swanson," CR was straightforward. The invitation didn't extend to the others. They only needed one IT expert to fill in the vacant position.

_Oh boy,_ the man they seek swallowed hard at the pronouncement.

"If you want him, you'll have to take all of us," Stan demanded. He had this withering grin specifically made for his sister. "That's your only option, kiddo."

CR turned to her boss who didn't change her expression at all. What in the world was going on in that brain? Roughly three minutes later, Beca glanced over at Chloe. Everyone else followed her gaze and recognized the prevailing dilemma: the redheaded monster shouldn't be here.

"Aubrey."

The notorious brunette locked eyes with the Posen heiress much to the other's shock. Aubrey tried to counter that powerful blank stare penetrating into her defenseless soul and strangling her in phantom yet ended up losing the silly staring contest. Heaving out an irritated sigh, she hurriedly approached the Head Phoenix for a very private conversation. Chloe herself raised an eyebrow. What the hell's the deal between these two?

"Okay, before you go-"

"We've talked about this," Beca quietly hissed at the other while the rest struggled to pry on the secretive discussion.

"I know…" Aubrey's voice trailed off, failing to come up with a valid excuse.

"So what the fuck is she doing here?"

"You see, I can't lie to my best friend. What would I tell her when she begins to ask about my whereabouts? 'Sorry, Beale, I'm just too busy lately helping your _ex_ search for your father's treasure'?"

"This is not a game, Aubrey! We're going to a real war!"

"I know, I know. I'm really sorry, okay? But if I'm in, then she definitely has to be in too."

The mighty Phoenix closed her eyes for a brief mental deliberation. Goddamn it. This was the very thing she's been trying to avoid – to get Chloe involved and increase the possibility of risking her life again. What's the use of pushing her away if the love of her life would simply come crawling back to her dangerous and chaotic world?

"We'll stay out of trouble," promised the blonde along with an invisible cross drawn on her chest. "Besides, I trust you'd protect her when worse comes to worst… right?"

"Aubrey, you don't understand! I don't want her here!"

Beca wasn't able to contain her emotions any longer. The very quiet cricket raised her voice in the hope to assert her concern. Was it really that difficult to understand her good intentions? She just wanted Chloe to be safe!

"If you have a problem with me, don't be such a coward and say it to my face!"

Chloe, almost in automatic, spoke out in defense of her best friend. The softness and tolerance weaved onto that angelic voice were overwhelmed by ire. Yes, she was certainly angry. Beca had no right to yell at Aubrey, especially when the real problem there was in fact Chloe herself. Stupid cricket, why wouldn't she just freaking say everything out loud? That would have been more convenient for everyone.

"I thought I've already told you that I want you to stay out of my life."

The mighty Phoenix shifted her eyes to meet the pair of bright blues that used to be her very own paradise. Unpredictable, those dark blue orbs were not vacant as it would normally be; they were rather fuming in rage which only made the redheaded monster grow even more furious. The venom engraved on the statement was creeping into her nerves. No, she couldn't let this callous beast hurt her anymore. Not even her painful words.

"Don't flatter yourself, Phoenix." She sounded like a Syndic, an enemy, with that hint of mockery. "I'm _not_ here for you."

"Burn!" Fat Amy blurted out and received numerous glares for it.

The brunette didn't move her eyes away from Chloe's, however. But then she should have, she wished she did, because to see the seriousness in them, how the redhead truly meant those words like she didn't care about the mighty Phoenix at all, it stung like hell.

"Do you even know how to hold a gun?" the Head Phoenix, in her normal monotonous voice, challenged the ambitious aspirant. "Because if a Syndic tries to kill you, I won't be there to save you."

"Kiddo!" Stan exclaimed in apprehension. He didn't want his sister to say something that she would regret in the end. Aubrey too was looking at her in attention.

But Chloe already had a firm response. "I'm not as weak as you think I am."

"You're out," the other decided anyway.

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

"And who do you think you are?"

"I'm the Head Phoenix."

"What gives _you_ the right to control my life?"

"You're in _my_ territory. I can get you killed simply for disavowing my decisions."

"Well, you've killed me a thousand times already!"

The very quiet cricket kept her mouth shut as Chloe's cry bounced around the confinements of the room because, unfortunately, she had no counter-argument primed for it.

"You expect me to stay out of your life? Then stay out of mine! My world doesn't revolve around you, okay? I'm only here to stand by my best friend and because it's my family's treasure that you're trying to steal. I just want to make sure it goes to the _lesser_ evil. So why don't you just let me help so we can get over with all this shit and then we can finally stay out of each other's lives forever and ever?"

Silence. That's all that came after along with choking hearts and breaths forgotten to be released into the atmosphere. Wow. The mighty Phoenix had lost a fight. Her breaking the line of gaze marked her concede.

"I'll train her," Thud meekly raised his buff arm to volunteer for the job. He couldn't bear to watch any more episodes of this heated argument, and secretly, he was on the side of the girl with a ladybug tattoo to be honest. "And the skeletal blonde, too."

"Excuse me?" the blonde bitch shot him an insulted look, her intimidating aura transcending everywhere.

The big guy shrugged his broad shoulders glancing at the two blondes. "I need to distinguish you from one another. By observation, _you_ are skeletal blonde and _she _is healthy blonde."

"I like this dude," grinned the other. "He's trying to make fat appearance sound more appealing. Aw."

Stan turned to Jesse with disdainful expression quietly asking, "Why the fuck is Fat Amy gushing over him?"

The IT expert answered with stammered nonsense.

Realizing Thud was not familiar with the rest of the group yet, Cynthia-Rose piloted the introduction phase. Stan shook his hand, but the relationship remained to be strictly professional. They couldn't be fast friends just yet.

"So this is our team," CR concluded moments later, glancing over at the Head for affirmation.

The notorious brunette displayed yet another blank stare then left. At CR's instruction, the rest of them followed the Head Phoenix until they all made a halt right in front of the _No Unauthorized Person Allowed _door.

"The Syndics must be monitoring this place already so we have to stay somewhere else," she announced. "Let's go to the headquarters, shall we?"

"B-But it's just a plain wall," Jesse recalled when Thud rushed to open the door for his boss.

"Don't let your eyes deceive you," advised his new teammate.

Beca pulled out a key card from her pocket, then inserted and removed it into the unobtrusive gap on the side. Instantly, much to the visitors' awe, the plain wall parted away at the center revealing a modern-designed elevator beyond it. The Head Phoenix stepped in and as protocol, Thud swiftly stood next to her. With a push of a button, both disappeared from sight as the door closed again into a plain wall.

"That's so fucking awesome."

"It's Lilly's masterpiece," was CR's only response before opening the elevator with her own key card. So this was the thing which she could do that the two other IT experts had never thought of. She stepped into the elevator and the rest quickly trailed behind. "I should warn you, Swanson. This goes both horizontal and vertical ways."

"What?"

The end of that inquiry turned into a shriek amplified with Fat Amy's and Aubrey's when the elevator rose then bolted sharply to the right producing that little tremor in the transport vessel. Stan was nearly crumpling, feeling the weight of the two terrified blondes against his chest while Jesse was inevitably growing sick. Again, there's a reason why he was never assigned on the field. CR and Chloe exchanged looks then chuckled. _Weaklings._

Thankfully, the trip didn't take as long as they feared. The elevator door opened; there's Thud waiting for their arrival with a sickness bag intended for Jesse - he was deliberately cautioned. The IT expert dashed passed the group to claim the bag; he couldn't take it any longer. It was very easy, really. All he had to do was to aim for the opening and puke all he wanted. But boy was he that clumsy, his disgusting vomit missed the target and trashed the floor. _Eugh_. Somebody would have to clean up that mess.

Remembering the purpose of coming over, CR led them to the main passageways. Although, she certainly didn't have to. Most of them were already familiar with the place anyway. After all, it was once their home. It's Old Pandemonium – a more perfect hideout than ever when everybody had seen the frontage burn down into rubble. The bomb explosion did a lot of damage, so it was an amazing surprise to see the headquarters as good as it used to be, if not better. It wasn't easy rebuilding it, more so constructing a transport system that would link it to Pandemonium 2.0, but the new Head Phoenix had made it all possible. And she stood right in the middle of the new Green Room – Phil's table was gone; instead, an entire wall was fashioned with white board and a semi-circle table was facing it to cater discussions. However, the most notable difference was the presence of an old face.

"Stacie?"

The ensemble chorused in surprise, startling the tall brunette as well. She didn't speak yet wondered about the violent reaction. Aubrey let out a sigh of relief; her drunken state wasn't worsening as she had suspected, for she really saw Stacie that night! Chloe, on the other hand, looked away, coincidentally meeting the dark blue eyes carefully watching her reaction. No. They're not supposed to be staring at each other like this anymore, so both hurriedly turned away and pretended it never happen.

"God, does anybody actually die in this story?" Fat Amy wondered out loud while looking around the room for Phil and Benji.

"My name's Skyler," introduced the old face much to everybody's bemusement. Even Chloe shot a glance at her. But she appeared exactly like Stacie Conrad! Except from the fact that she was dressed appropriately – more garments, less skin. "Welcome to The Secret Society. Please take your seats."

They did as they were told, but their perplexed eyes were still glued on that face.

"Beca's babysitter," Cynthia-Rose found the opportunity to annoy the notorious brunette.

"But Beca's nothing like a baby," argued Fat Amy earning that fatal gaze from the mighty Phoenix. The Australian blonde instantly recoiled and grinned wildly at her former roommate. "Partner! Did I tell you how much I've missed you, mate?"

The other rolled her eyes in annoyance. Fat Amy was about to leave her seat to give her old partner in crime a hug when the very quiet cricket pulled out her knife as a _friendly_ threat. Fine, no hugs. Got it. The blonde happily blew out a kiss to make it up though. _Eugh_. Suddenly, it felt like high school.

"Our goal is to find the treasure," Teacher Skyler pulled down the projector screen to start the meeting, showing visual aids to help the newbies catch up with the latest progress on the mission. "We've found Back to Basics, a cabin full of traps. We believe the treasure is buried somewhere there or at least could lead us to it. However, there's a few more traps left to uncover."

"Let's do it," said Stan confidently.

"It's not that easy," she shook her head. "They're all too dangerous. The Head Phoenix almost died on every operation."

Chloe resisted the urge to glance at her ex for the sake of pride. So that explained it; all the limping, scratches, abrasions, ripped clothes, probably the broken nose too – the horrible monster had been stupidly putting her life on the line. She wouldn't admit it, but the redhead was worried because she truly still cared.

"We'll do it together," the older Mitchell turned towards his sister. "We're a _team_."

Beca huffed - who knew what it meant - and so Skyler went on, "We will set a schedule for the next operation then. For the meantime, we need everybody to be extra careful. The IT group is responsible for monitoring and other related tasks. We're lucky enough that the Head Phoenix was not around when the Syndics discovered Pandemonium. So for security protocols... Beca, you'll be staying here in the quarters."

The Head Phoenix threw a look as a form of protest which was bravely ignored. They had to keep it a secret that the mighty Phoenix was alive. It would keep them one step ahead of Bumper.

"Now any questions? Suggestions? Other concerns?"

Fat Amy raised a hand, "We should have a team name."

Peculiar. Nevertheless, the newbie bit the bait and entertained the motion.

"Well, do you have anything in mind?"

"Hmm…" the Australian blonde began to ponder; Beca swore she could hear the gears inside that brain running or was it a growling stomach. "We should be called… Team… uh… Team…"

Why the hell where they even listening and waiting in anticipation?

"Pura!" exclaimed Fat Amy. "Team Pura!"

"What?"

"I was trying to think when an image of tempura flashed on my mind which is… _superb_! God, now I fucking want to eat tempura."

Her face fell into a frown, and so Beca braced herself because she knew it too well.

"Beca," Fat Amy put a hand on her former roommate just as what the brunette had expected, begging. "Please cook some tempura for me. Pretty please. I missed you!"

The mighty Phoenix used all her might to get away from the grip then turned to the only person who could save her this instance.

"I can cook for you," Thud came to the rescue.

Fat Amy hesitated and so her favorite chef sported the most effective way she thought could assert her stamp of approval on Thud's cooking skills: a very awkward thumbs up. Stan flared up in jealousy when his Australian bombshell excitedly followed the big guy to the kitchen. If the young Mitchell still didn't choose her at this point, it might have actually turned into a love at first bite. And he knowingly didn't.

* * *

The bell clung upon contact with the wooden door signaling the arrival of customers. That thick Australian accent rang loudly across the entire local convenience store bringing the unnecessary hullabaloo to the old man, probably on his late seventies, working at the counter. The group simultaneously sighed when they discovered that the Head Phoenix had not arrived at the meeting place yet.

"Any food you want?" asked Chloe.

Fat Amy flashed a you-know-I'm-not-picky look. "Grab everything you can, Chloe. Who knows how long we're going to stay in that cabin? I'll go get the drinks."

"Aubrey?"

"I'll fetch my salad," the Posen heiress replied, unsure if it's in fact the right decision here. Was it sanitary?

"Boys?"

"We're fine," Stan and Jesse answered in unison, both stood in place, their eyes glued on the TV screen watching an NBA replay, and Chloe got the message. Nothing could ever tear them away from their obsession. Perhaps, nothing except from this stranger with half-shaved head who suddenly appeared before them – she wore a white crop top and a pair of rainbow ombre shorts to match her dip dyed blonde hair. 'Attractive' would be an understatement. She was hot!

Bizarre. She was staring at Stan so intently that the tall young man felt somehow violated. Then without premature warning, she grabbed him by the face and pulled him in for a kiss. Jesse's jaw hung open while the take-away salad fell off from Aubrey's hand at the shocking turn of events. It felt like forever when it lasted only for a minute. If the young Mitchell was being honest, it was the best kiss he'd ever had.

"Pretty boy," the stranger murmured, her breath brushing against his lips. "You're carelessness will get everybody killed."

Even before Stan could furrow his eyebrows, the bell on the door clung and a canister rolled over. Tear gas was spewing out of the grenade quickly filling the store – the sound of coughing and cries of pain soon erupted. Instinct urged the young Mitchell to run outside, but the stranger pulled him back. She knew he'd walk right to the enemies purposely waiting. They had to stay in if they wanted to survive. The old man was down - heart attack. Aubrey and Jesse were on their knees.

"Stay with me." She had to tap Stan's cheeks to bring him back from disorientation. She kept him up to his feet; staying down was the worst thing to do here. "They need you."

He nodded his head as he drew out his gun and moved. The bell clung once more; a team of Syndics geared with gas masks came in. Stan dragged his friends away for cover while the stranger fired at the enemies before running to the beverages section to find Fat Amy in agony. She soaked the bandana around her arm with water and placed it over her mouth and nostrils; it would allow her more time to fight. She had to. For this people.

Meanwhile, Chloe could feel her lungs burning, her eyes tearing up, and her skin stung by toxic. She couldn't breathe or see, she was on the verge of collapse. She could hear footsteps and gunfire. Her hands weakly searched for the pistol she was provided when a man with a gas mask found her. He raised his hand to point his weapon at her; she should do the same, but her frail body just couldn't function properly anymore. He was about to pull the trigger, and as promised, the mighty Phoenix was _not _there to save the redheaded monster.

* * *

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Pitch Perfect.


	11. Key

_**leijan, gleekathoner, Guest **(Mar23): Surprising how receptive you are of the Team Pura joke. LOL._

**_PurpleWedding:_**_ Fat Amy and Jesse did a great job in Stolen, Lilly needed to prove her worth._

**_Guest _**_(Mar22): Inspired by a real person. :)_

**_purplefurball:_**_ And then Tegan and Sara are singing in my head. LOL. You practically summarized it. Thanks!_

_****__Guest __(Mar22), ****__Guest__ (Mar21)_: Trying to update as soon as I can.

**___oilzz and stuff:_**___ I have a very weird sense of humor, so I was afraid I'd fail on that aspect. Thank god, it's kind of working. It's unfortunate that I haven't watched Alexis Knapp's appearance on Super Fun Night, so I really have no idea._

**___NightmareWalker: _**_Drunk Aubrey, I couldn't let that pass! Yeah, I can't really kill Chloe. Or can I?_

**_itsmefiebs, anon: _**_Thanks! :)_

**_lucakutya: _**_Rated M for a reason._

**_yoimbored: _**_Thanks. One of the most flattering reviews I've ever had. :)_

**_Guest_**_ (Mar21): I'm actually in love with cliffhangers._

**_asdfg:_**_ We'll all blame her._

**_BeChloeFan01:_**_ That's a relief! We'll see more of her. :)_

**_charliepollock1357, madness2013:_**_ She had the chance to get off the hook._

**_Yan:_**_ Feel free to make guesses. It would be interesting to know if you get it right, although it's a completely different setting now in this chapter._

**_MysticFalls94:_**_ I'm guessing some of you might have asked the same question. LOL. About Stacie/Skyler, you know the drill, I'll give you the answer in the story. :)_

_It really freaks me out that most of you think that Skyler's character seems interesting. Again, she'll be playing a very minor role. I don't want you expecting too much of her then end up getting disappointed. Nevertheless, I'm overwhelmed by the fact that you think she's interesting because I seriously thought you'd get fed up._

* * *

CHAPTER TEN: **Key**

Chloe surrendered and acknowledged that this was the end of all her days. Death was a vulture patiently waiting right beside her. That split second was created to last as fast as a blink of an eye, yet the moment passed in a generous slow motion, delaying the agony, allowing a wanted opportunity to review the life she had. Her father's face flashed before her, the regret of failure of reconciliation; Aubrey stood with her hands upon her hips, how the redhead would miss the condescending sister she never had; then her mother's smile, how she spent all those years longing for the day they'd finally be together again. This could be it. Her mother's arms were already spread wide open, gladly welcoming her into Eden's gates, and the daughter was ready to take her hand. But Beca… that horrible monster. That even though she'd inflicted so much pain, Chloe had to tell her the truth – that _still_, she was truly, madly, deeply, _superlatively_ in love with her.

But it was too late for that. The intent would no longer be of any use as the words would forever be left unspoken. In her blurry vision, Chloe had seen the grim reaper arrive at the scene – a fire axe clenched by hand rather than the usual scythe and a pair of dark blue orbs glowing through the darkness surrounding the Angel of Death. One swing. All it took was one quick swing, and within that split second, the man who protected by a gas mask and prepared to kill her with his gun had his head chopped off.

That was when Chloe woke up, breathing heavily and bathing in her own sweat. The chlorine gas was gone and so was the vulture awaiting her transformation into an edible corpse. The blinding fluorescent lights in the local convenience store were then replaced by the dimmed radiance courtesy of the nearby table lamp; her elbows propped against a soft mattress instead of the cold floor. _Rescued_ was what she had grasped from the situation.

"Hey."

She discerned she had heard a soft voice, and it didn't take too long for her to find out the source of this sign of life. The Head Phoenix swiftly transferred from the wooden chair to the bedside; the wound dressing on her temple obviously needed to be replaced immediately, the stain of blood on it indicated that she had been sitting there for hours, waiting in torment. She was totally out of character – the trembling hands and the fear painted all over her face which skyrocketed when the patient had not yet spoken a single word.

"Chloe, are you okay?"

The redhead swore to god that she wasn't playing around. She just really couldn't find the right words to say this instant, and let alone the ability to do anything else other than stare at the spectacle of a worried portrait. In effect, the other waited no more - she didn't give a shit about whatever but this – and embraced her most precious treasure as if tomorrow would never come. This was not as fractional as rescue, Chloe recognized. This was, in its entirety, safety, a sanctuary right here in the arms of the love of her life.

"I got you," Beca muttered although it seemed more like she was the one needed to be told. "You're fine now."

The young heiress raised her arms to embrace her back in spite of the fact that her brain still could process only so much. "A Syndic was trying to kill me. He almost succeeded. You said that you wouldn't be there to save me."

"I lied," was the truthful response.

Chloe let out a small chuckle. Of course, the best liar in town did what she was skilled of. But that's quickly forgotten. Here came the opportunity which Chloe thought she had missed. She yearned for a second chance during that split second, and here it was, open for a good grab. Therefore, she lightly pushed the body pressed against her and looked straight into those concerned eyes.

"I still love you."

The very quiet cricket surprisingly curved her lips into a rare smile, and as a response, she lovingly touched the strands of red hair. Using her thumbs, she then delicately wiped the tears about to depart the pair of bright blue eyes despite knowing that she wouldn't be able to stop them any time soon. Time was yet again set into a generous slow motion as she kept her palms upon the angelic face. Well, there were moments in life that you just couldn't fake it. This was one of those; this very moment where they shared a tender kiss – stingy yet bountiful, spectral and tangible at the same time.

"I can't," she whispered, unfortunately, when their lips had parted.

"But you _do_… don't you?"

Beca shut her eyes as she rested her forehead against the other's, drinking in this borrowed time she was aware could end in a flash. "I thought I've told you that whatever happens, you'll always mean _nothing_ to me. Only this time, it has to be real. Do you understand?"

"No," the redhead firmly shook her head more likely as a sign of refusal.

Time's up! The Head Phoenix had to let it go again. She moved back, withdrew all sorts of physical contact, and stood up. Next thing, the anxiety had been washed away, conquered by the cloud of vacancy.

"You're off the team," she announced then proceeded to the exit. "And that's final."

"Wait!" Chloe quickly forced her feeble body out of the bed to go after the dictator. "I want to help!"

The horrible monster turned to face the determined little soldier with that infamous blank stare. "You want to help? Okay. Stay safe, stay alive, and stay out of my life."

"But I want to fight next to you!"

"I can't be with you, Chloe."

"Why?"

"Because your heart is no place for a fucking monster like me!"

Chloe paused for a short while until she found the itch to laugh at the given excuse, nodding her head in total agreement. "You're right. You're a _fucking _monster. You're _the_ cold-blooded beast, heartless killer machine, everybody's most horrifying nightmare. You are most certainly the worst person to love, Beca… but you're _my _monster. Now and then, I just want to put a leash around your neck and keep you with me all the time, 24/7 in fact… because I love you and you're supposed to be mine."

"Fidelity to The Society," was the icy proclamation. That could easily sum up everything that the outsider needed to know about this mission. After all, it was the one and only thing that any Phoenix should have stood for.

_Knock, knock._ The small knock on the door was loud enough for the awake to hear it and quiet enough not to wake up what was presumed to be a sleeping patient. The door creaked open, and Skyler with a tray of meal on hand immediately halted at the sight of the pair silently standing in the middle of the room, engaged in an intense staring contest. Oops, must be a really bad timing.

"I-I brought food," she stated the obvious in a frenzy. "The Head Phoenix hasn't eaten all day, and it's time for dinner so…"

The Head Phoenix didn't need a babysitter especially at this very second. Skyler got the message. She was set to turn around and leave, but their special guest asked her to stay. Strange. But fine, her job here was to take orders anyway. Chloe needed someone else to witness whatever was about to happen next. Whether or not the mighty Phoenix decided to leave again, Chloe would need someone to tell her it's real.

"Are you going to be okay?" Beca found the decency to ask her. After all.

The young heiress put on a beam that made her appear not as weak as the Head Phoenix had always thought she was. "I know what it's like to live without you. Apparently, I can."

"Good," was all the reply she got before watching the grim reaper walk away again.

"She's like that to everybody so don't take it personally," said Skyler in a poor attempt of reassurance and as a minor act of being friendly. "But well, from what I just saw, I seem to get it now… You're not like _everybody_, are you, Chloe?"

Chloe shrugged, frankly unsure. Just where do you categorize someone who's been labeled as 'nothing'? She then looked back at her the way she would have at Stacie. "Take care of her. Please."

"That's my job here," smiled the brunette positively. At least.

* * *

Bumper never let the news anchor finished his remaining lines to end the broadcast. He retrieved the remote control and switched off the television. His signature devilish smirk was plastered on his lips as soon as the screen became pitch black where there appeared the reflection of Clarence Beale together with his loyal pet, Paul.

"You're all over the news," he started. "Frozen bank accounts by the virtue of a sacred court order? Wow, dude. The odds are clearly not in your favor."

Clarence lowered his head a little in capitulation. "You haven't won yet, boy."

"Oh but I will," guaranteed the young man. "What's a better way to unlock the secret than with its very own key?"

"I don't know where the treasure is."

"I think we've already established that, dude. Besides, the destination is not my problem right now. I need you to help me figure out how to get there."

"And you think I know how?" the redhead scoffed. If he did, he wouldn't be here in the first place!

"Benji Applebaum knew," explained the Head Syndic. "More than anyone, y_ou _knew Benji."

"What do you want to know about him?"

"Let me make things easier for you, Mr. Beale. When I ask a question, no matter what the condition is, all you have to do is answer them as truthful as possible. Is that simple enough for you?"

The other nodded his head.

"Just recently, I've been told that Stan Mitchell has been… unnecessarily active." Clarence was taken aback at the mention of the name. What was Stan's been up to this time? He couldn't be involved again. "Curious. All of a sudden, he's interested. That's a problem for us, you see, so I sent a team to keep an eye on him. I sent another to get him and bring him over to me. Sadly, none of the deployed men came back to report. Tell me, dude… what is in Savannah?"

Subsequently, the businessman had realized that Paul was right. Indeed, coming over here to strike a deal with the devil was a very bad idea. More so, he realized that at this point, there's no more turning back from The Syndicate.

"Benji grew up in Savannah," he answered as truthful as possible compliant to the prior agreement. "Not even The Society knew about this. Phil thought the young Phoenix was from Charlotte."

Bumper erupted into a fit of laughter. He never expected it would be this stress-free.

"Is there any more questions you want to ask? I have to go. We don't want to keep the investigators waiting."

"In that case, I have one more important question… What. Is. In. Savannah?"

It was exactly the same question as the previous one, yet the key informant knew it was meant differently. This time, it was more dangerous, more risky for the contending party.

"I don't know." And it was the truth, luckily.

With that, Clarence turned around to leave while Paul trailed behind him in full alert. The businessman didn't wait for Bumper to give him the orders; the Head Syndic didn't own him the way he wanted to just yet. He gained possession when a simple threat was intentionally laid out into the blueprint: would the newly-sworn ally choose to save Phil's son or his own daughter?

* * *

"_Behind you!"_

Jesse's voice resonated in everybody's earpiece as a call of warning. Thud turned around only to find Stan looking back at him in complete vigilance. It was meant for neither of them, however – if Swanson could be more specific with his warning, it would be much appreciated. Nevertheless, it could only mean that the precaution was intended for Beca. Soon enough, a mechanical head chopped off right at the neck rolled on the floor exposing bundles of electrical wiring constantly discharging fiery sparks from their ruptured ends.

"_Brace yourselves for another batch!"_

True enough, before Fat Amy reached the finish line of that sentence, six more mechanically built (and enhanced) ancient-looking warriors rose from the holes on the floor. Who knew this simple cabin was housing another set of Chinese Terracotta Army down below. Stan dodged a strong jab with his bare arm and then hurriedly ducked to skip the death train that came with the launched arrow towards him. Meanwhile, Beca swiftly stole the sword from one warrior and easily sliced it with its sharp blade – cool, it's like using a longer version of knife.

"_Oh my god, there's more!"_

Aubrey's loud gasps caught their attention. The trap didn't wait for the room to be cleared; the cabin was sending more troops into the battlefield. The older Mitchell found himself cornered by a number of enemies more than he knew he could probably handle. Thankfully, his teammates were keeping an eye on him too. His sister pitched a battle axe which landed on one's back permitting it to collapse while Thud crushed his own opponent with his buff arms and then threw it towards the ensemble of warriors about to slay Stan. Bit by bit, they came tumbling down – amateur bowling, Thud style. First, it was the tear gas attack then this – the big guy was selflessly saving him. Fine, maybe they could still be friends even though Fat Amy already seemed to like the newbie more than her old crush.

"_Uh, guys?" _Jesse sounded hesitant and startled. _"W-We have a visitor."_

Another batch of warriors entered the battlefield. Yes, it was absolutely the worst time to have a visitor whoever he or she might be. There was a sudden scuffle heard from the other end of the line followed by loud shrieks. Trouble, it certainly was. Great, there's danger inside and outside the cabin. It was manifested through the heavy tread coming from the front porch.

Before long, the door swung open to reveal Aubrey, Fat Amy and Jesse who tried to stop the uninvited guest tied together with a rope as well as the presence of the mystery blonde woman. This time, her picture-perfect body was displayed for a better view. She thriftly wore a black lace bra underneath an overall shorts and a pair of sneakers. It was enough to shut Stan's whole system down when it shouldn't be. Perhaps, it was the half-shaved head adorned with rainbow dip dyed hair that captured him beyond release that even when Thud yelled at him, the tall young man snubbed the mechanical warrior about to attack. Stan was kicked on the chest and his body flew back, the impact breaking down a wooden wall.

"Silly," was her verdict on the disgrace she had just witnessed.

The big guy was prepared to attack her as a potential threat, but five more obstacles appeared before him. The trio strove to come close from behind, and so knowingly, the stranger drew out her gun and fired on their way just to scare them off. And in that few seconds, the most dangerous among them all had rammed her against the door jamb with a deadly knife poised upon her neck.

"Well, hello to you, too, Peter Pan."

Annoyingly, blondie greeted with a mocking smirk plastered on her natural pink lips. It kept the older Mitchell under an unidentified sorcery until Beca pushed her strong arm against her clavicle even more. That was when Stan realized that it was his sister whom he had the duty to protect and so tackled the approaching mechanical warrior, obtained its hatchet, and moved to help Thud defeat them all.

"I'm a friend," the woman hissed in frustration making it really difficult to be convincing. "The fact that I haven't killed you yet-"

Beca drew a cut on the blonde's shoulder; she didn't need to be ridiculed.

"Look." She cautiously raised her left hand showing her forearm meticulously covered with a red bandana. The brunette tore it off, discovering a Phoenix tattoo exactly like hers except that it was a smaller version. "I am your humble servant… or whatever."

The mighty Phoenix shifted her noxious gaze back to those hazel eyes. The tattoo didn't prove anything; maybe if she didn't roll her eyes towards the end of the sentence, it would somehow be believable.

"I saved your fucking ass back there," the blonde added. "I killed all those men. For _you_. Now if it wasn't for _me_, the Syndicate, by now, would have been knowledgeable about the truth that their greatest nemesis is in fact alive. They would have been hunting you down already and all the ones you care about. So you're welcome, Tinker bell!"

Aubrey gasped. Why the hell did nobody consider about this? Same size, same gibberish language, same ill-tempered and jealous personality – Beca was definitely Tinker bell!

After some time, the last mechanical warrior collapsed on the floor. Hence, the mighty Phoenix had to come up with a judgment or else Thud would never hesitate to rip this woman apart. At the big guy's first step forward, Beca released her. It wasn't because of the tattoo or the effort of keeping the secret; it's only because she bought her more time during that tear gas attack. If it wasn't for this stranger, the mighty Phoenix would have never made it on time to save the redheaded monster.

"What's your name?" Stan inquired much to everybody's surprise.

"Rem," was the answer. Really, she should have elaborated on it more because the three hostages at the front porch started showering her questions.

"Like the equivalent of one roentgen X-rays?"

"Or rapid eye movement?"

"Must be the band. U2 would have been a cool name. Or Sex Pistols."

The blonde shot back angrily, "Just Rem! Problem with that?"

"God!" exclaimed Fat Amy in realization as she glanced from the blonde to the brunette then vice versa, astounded. "There's two of them."

"The fuck are you?" the brunette finally decided to use her vocal chords before the three could start discussing about their theories on the subject.

"I'm your cheat code."

"Cheat code," everybody else repeated because it sounded kind of crazy, yet the claimant nodded her head in affirmation. What the hell did it even mean?

"You really are the mighty Phoenix," was the first ever genuine praise she had utter in their presence. "Any ordinary human being or even a machine that dares to come into this cabin would die on the very first day. I've seen them all curious people walk in, if they even manage to in the first place, but never walk out. Now here you are, safe and sound, about to uncover the very last item."

She eyed the remaining black cloth located at the end of the room, silently waiting for the courageous being to face the unknown.

"So back to the cheat code," Thud reminded because he knew his boss hated beating around the bush.

Rem turned to the brunette and let out one long sardonic laugh. "But you're very funny."

_What?_

"You think _this_ is Back to Basics."

_Wasn't it?_

"You think _here _is where you find the treasure."

_If not, then where?_

"What did the note say, genius?"

That last part had earned Beca's full attention. How in the world did this stranger know about the note when the only people who knew about its mere existence were Beca herself and her mother?

"Find home," muttered the mighty Phoenix in contemplation.

"Now does this look like a fucking home to you?" Rem asked and was answered with nothing. "You have the key. You were given it to use, not hide."

She then nodded towards the last item for encouragement. Beca walked over to it, and Thud volunteered to uncover it for her. One… two… three… Unexpectedly, there only stood a harmless art pedestal and on the center of its top surface was a keyhole designed for the old renaissance key. Motivated by the troubles it had caused and eager to move forward with this mission, the Head Phoenix impatiently retrieved the key from her pocket and put it in, turned it to the right as if unlocking a door. Everybody waited, the anticipation building up until from out of the blue, Beca fell into the darkness down below.

"I can't believe she's that gullible!" the cheat code had burst into a fit of laughter.

Thud dashed towards her, grabbing her by the straps of her overalls, her black lace bra exposed more than necessary. "If she dies, you die."

"Relax," she assured but with a mischievous sneer. "She's indestructible, remember?"

"Who are you, really?" Stan had to ask. If she turned out to be a Syndic, it would be a big disappointment not only on his part. But something about her told him otherwise in spite of the rascal personality.

Rem shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "_I _built this cabin… so she's going to be fine."

* * *

"Miss Grant?"

Maverick stood by the desk, nervously playing with his fingers as he waited for the Chief Directress to announce his punishment for the day. Oh boy, what did he do this time? If this was about the peas he vaulted into the ceiling, in his defense, he was extremely bored during that particular lunch time. If this was about the time he painted the hair of the girl sitting in front of him in class, Ms. Carson already put him to detention!

"What are those two doing out there?" she questioned instead as she looked out the window with a pair of binoculars in hand. "I told you to guard Chloe."

Confused, cute little Maverick walked towards Ronie, his short legs taking the required number of footsteps while his hand messed up his curly jet-black hair. He tiptoed to see the same view through the window and saw the young heiress perched on the grass under the shades of a maple tree accompanied by none other than Benjamin McDouglas himself. Worse part of it was that they were all alone as everybody else was in the building having classes.

"Uh oh," he began shaking his head and made _tsk_ noises. "Becky is not going to like this."

"You have to level up your charm, kiddo. We can't lose Chloe now, are we clear?"

"Do you want me to set his pants on fire, Miss Grant?" he innocently asked.

Miss Grant had seriously taken the time to consider about how brilliant it would be, yet quickly dismissed the idea when she remembered how old she was. _Stupid maturity_. "We need something better."

"I will draw on his face using a permanent marker."

"As much as how exciting it sounds, no. I can't let you do that."

"I will keep an eye on her?" he questioned as if that wasn't the very thing he was initially tasked to do.

They both paused for a considerable amount of time then sighed. Fine, that's all they could really do at the moment. They had no other choice but to stay mum on the bench side while Benjamin McDouglas took control of the game. The ball was rolling around the hoop and it appeared like he was the guy underneath well-positioned to catch it.

"You're…" his voice trailed off as he searched for the most appropriate possible term to describe the redhead seated next to him. "You seem alright now."

"Isn't it a good thing?" Chloe asked.

He couldn't help but purse his lips and squint his eyes because he wasn't sure. "I don't really know which one's worse; you feeling lonely or you feeling alright... because either way, there's still a big hole in your heart."

"What makes you say that?" was her ineffective way of escaping from the accusation.

Ben turned to look at her. He didn't have to say a word. One could simply make a guess out of the obvious. The answer was drawn right on her face for everyone's convenience. As a result, Chloe sighed heavily and forced a smile.

"It's really over this time," she shared the news.

"It's Beca, isn't it? _That _girl… it's her."

And the redhead nodded her head for confirmation.

"Wow," Ben let out a chuckle while he shook his head – all those things he blurted out to Beca's face. One could just imagine how it must have felt to hear an ignorant stranger say all those things. "She must totally hate me right now."

"She hates all people," Chloe guaranteed along with some adorable giggles at the sight of remorse on the typically sunny gentleman.

"Me especially."

"Nah, I wouldn't say so."

"Have you seen the way she looked at me? If looks could kill, I've been dead for a very long time since the first time she laid her eyes on me. They're like a pair of sharp daggers stabbing my very soul every two minutes."

The other couldn't contain the uproar of laughter any longer. "Don't be silly, Ben. That's ridiculous!"

"Ridiculous? No. Beca really really hates me more than anyone in this planet."

"But certainly not more than she hates me."

"Chloe," he spoke to her with apprehension.

"What?"

He tried to read her face but there was indeed no clue of kidding around in her statement. So, he took a deep breath and took her hand in his. He then put on his best smile and fixed his eyes on hers.

"I've told you this before, but I think I have to say it out loud again. Chloe, you are the most beautiful girl I've ever met. When I decided to dance with you at the party, I should have known you would take my breath away. That's exactly what you did. Now I don't know what it is, but Beca must have a perfectly reasonable excuse to not want to be with you, but I can promise you it's not because she hates you. Nobody can hate you."

"Says Mr. Perfect," she wore a sinister grin.

Ben sniggered. Seriously, what was it with that nickname? He asked, "Do you want to know a secret?"

"Do _I _want to know a secret?"

He let out another chuckle at the child-like behavior and rolled his eyes. "Here's the thing: I'm not perfect."

"I don't believe you."

"What?" he scoffed. "Okay, I'm going to prove it to you… but you have to promise me that whatever happens next, it's going to stay between us, hmm Chloe?"

Chloe adjusted her seating position so her entire body was facing him then drew an invisible cross upon her heart to seal the deal. Ben stared at her for some time, going through a mental debate against himself if he should actually push through with this – maybe it was a bad idea after all especially with that eager image patiently waiting for the show. Oh what the hell! He took a deep breath and adjusted the way he was seated as well. He then lowered his head, just in case, and deliberately cleared his throat several times to prepare himself.

_[Do you want to build a snowman?  
__Come on, let's go and play!  
__I never see you anymore  
__Come out the door  
__It's like you've gone away  
__We used to be best buddies  
__And now we're not  
__I wish you would tell me why!  
__Do you want to build a snowman?  
__It doesn't have to be a snowman]_

Oh my god, he was singing! And he even made a pause while his index finger danced to the instrumental playing in his head. Chloe had replaced her amusement with an extremely shocked expression; her mouth was hanging open for all she cared. She couldn't decide which one was more disgraceful – the fact that he actually knew the song or his singing ability, everything about it, was just plain terrible.

"Don't judge," he warned before continuing with the second verse.

_[Do you want to build a snowman?  
__Or ride our bikes around the halls?  
__I think some company is overdue  
__I've started talking to  
__The pictures on the walls!  
__(Hang in there, Joan)  
__It gets a little lonely  
__All these empty rooms  
__Just watching the hours tick by...  
__(tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock)]_

"Stop!" she yelled out. She couldn't let him do the emotional part of the song. The point was already taken – he's no Mr. Perfect after all. "That was… _awful_."

"I know," he agreed in pure shame.

"And Frozen?" she inquired as serious as possible, biting her lip to repress an upcoming fit of laughter.

"I have a nine-year-old cousin, so I've probably seen it more than you do. Twenty times… and counting."

Ben exhaled as deep as he could as he looked away. What the fuck did he just do? That was so embarrassing in all levels! Additionally, he could still see and hear the hilarity on the part of his company. Yeah yeah, he was the most horrible singer on earth.

"Your secret's safe with me," the redhead promised, stiffing the remains of her laughter.

Eventually, he turned to her with a chastened smile. "Thanks."

"Just do humanity a favor, Ben. Don't ever sing again."

He rolled his eyes as they moved back to their original position. Chloe giggled at the reaction, resting her head on his shoulder while tapping on his arm lightly to offer some comfort for his _disability_. They stayed like that for who knew how long? It felt… nice, honestly. It was peaceful, not lonely, and incredibly satisfying. This was what it's like without Beca Mitchell.

"I know you're trying to get through a break-up," he muttered. "But I really like you and I want to see you be… more than alright, you know. So maybe, just maybe, you want to go to this music festival with me. Uh… Bombay Bicycle Club, The Neighbourhood, Of Monsters and Men…"

"So you're into music?" Ben could definitely hear the playful tone through the murmur.

"Just because I'm in out of tune doesn't mean I can't have a good taste in music."

"Out of tune? That's kind of an understatement."

"Do you want to go, Chloe?" he emphasized the main purpose of this conversation.

Chloe giggled in delight. He's so easy to annoy, yet he never got offended which made it more enjoyable. She could feel the pair of deep blues gawking at her hair, waiting, and the calming movement of his body as he breathed. Here was the person who didn't try to push her away. Here was the person who willingly offered anything to make her feel not lonely. Maybe _he _was the miracle she had been waiting to happen. She gave the horrible monster a chance, of all people, so why not Benjamin McDouglas?

"I'll be there," she finally answered. "It's a date."

* * *

Thud stood next to the blonde stranger near the edge of the hole where his boss had unexpectedly fallen while the rest of the team found their own places around the room. He would remain true to his words; if the mighty Phoenix would fail to come out of the pit alive, then he would have to kill her too. However, Rem was confident enough that the notorious brunette would survive.

"What's up with you and all the blondes?" Jesse quietly asked the tall young man standing next to him at a corner. Stan was still rubbernecking at the best kiss he ever had.

"Shut up!" he shot back.

"Just don't make it too obvious though," advised the guy who never had at least a single experience on such. "Don't stare, you'll creep her out. Spare her some privacy, will 'ya?"

"Just shut the fuck up, Padawan!"

"Trust me, she-" Jesse immediately stopped when the girl they had been secretly watching all this time suddenly caught them. She was looking right at them! _Glaring._ The IT expert could almost choke out his words in panic. "S-She's looking at us. Stan, do something. Stan? She's… she fucking scares me!"

As fate would have it, she decided to spice up the recreation and began strolling towards the duo with Thud's eyes carefully following her every move. She had the same intense gaze glued on Stan. It would be helpful if she would stop doing that. But this time, she seemed also curious, her hazel orbs partly hidden as she narrowed her eyes. The young Mitchell realized he wasn't releasing carbon dioxide or inhaling oxygen as he was supposed to; his entire system shut down once more when she stopped right in front of him.

"Pretty boy," her lips were moving so he knew she was talking. "You're staring at me."

Jesse buried his face in his palms in total embarrassment for his buddy.

"I-I wasn't," Stan heard himself croaked as he struggled not to glance at the exposed material of her lace bra.

Remarkably, Rem started to snicker, absolutely entertained. "Oh my god. You liked it… the kiss! You can't forget about it, can you?"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about."

However, she only laughed furthermore. Besides, she loved having fun so why not take advantage of the situation? Naughtily, she raised a finger and set it upon the bridge of his nose, that tender hint of her skin, then, in a very slow manner, traced down his manly features - his lips, jawline, neck, shoulders, chest, down to his sweaty abs sending that tingling feeling until it touched his pants and Stan was instantly reminded about reality. Damn it! He had to pretend he wasn't enjoying it at all, and it wasn't easy when she was just a few inches away from his body.

"You're not bad yourself," she commented, pursing her lips at his six-pack.

"T-Thank you."

"Don't think about me too much, okay?" she gave him a pat on the shoulder. "You don't want to be falling for me, pretty boy."

_Why not?_

"You should be paying attention to her instead," she nodded towards the Posen heiress who was caught off guard at the unexpected inclusion in this particular conversation. "She'd been staring at you the way you've been staring at me, so let's not make things complicated here. Don't go searching for some fuck someplace else when it's been right beside you all along."

She left him a smile and a wink to die for before going back to Thud's detention, then Stan found himself looking back at Aubrey. Man, this was awkward.

"I'd actually trade a box of cronuts for her," Fat Amy mumbled, following the glimpse of rainbow strands, startling even her own self. She first neglected Stan then delicious food; there must be something wrong with her!

"Boss is here!"

Everybody gathered around the hole. There's Beca covered with some scratches and mud aided only by a pair of knife to climb back up to the surface. With Thud's assistance, Stan grabbed his sister by the arm and hauled her up to the ground. It took her almost an hour to survive from the darkness of death yet waited for nothing before charging towards the so-called cheat code.

"It's just a joke!" the blonde exclaimed in her defense. "Come on, Tink!"

But not even Thud could stop the mighty Phoenix anymore.

"I knew you would make it out alive!"

The brunette threw in a hard punch which the other only had to deflect. She couldn't fight back, that was the instruction. She had to convince Beca that she was a real friend.

"I just wanted to test you! I had to make sure you're the one! Benji put me on this job!"

The horrible monster stopped at the mention of the name; her anger still burned in her veins likewise. This mystery woman behaved transparently yet managed to be unreadable all the same. How could she do that?

"It might be hard to believe but he made me build this cabin. And I was instructed to help you in every way possible. _I_ am your cheat code!"

"Get. Out."

"What?" Rem shouted in disbelief. "I'm here to help! I'm part of the team!"

"Get the fuck out of here!"

Defeated, the blonde broke out a frustrated sigh. "Fine. Suit yourself. But I'm telling you, _Beca_, this is _not_ Back to Basics. Someone almost fooled me once pretending to be the mighty Phoenix. Now I can only give you a hint. You have the key. Use it."

The Head Phoenix gave her one last glare then marched passed her. This clown wouldn't leave? Fine, then the team would leave. Whether or not this woman's claims were true, Beca just made the biggest sacrifice by rejecting her own most precious treasure. Clearly, she didn't have time for jokes or cheats. She only had to find the treasure to get this over with and hopefully salvage what's left of her relationship.

* * *

_[In the morning when I wake  
__And the sun is coming through,  
__Oh, you fill my lungs with sweetness,  
__And you fill my head with you]_

The late afternoon sky would soon be smeared with the colors of sunset; Ben and Chloe stood side by side while The Paper Kites performed on stage. She couldn't even remember the last time she had this much fun. Perhaps, her walking stereo, in out of tune, had this magical side effect.

_[Shall I write it in a letter?  
__Shall I try to get it down?  
__Oh, you fill my head with pieces  
__Of a song I can't get out]_

"You okay?" he dropped his gaze towards her.

"Ssh, I love this song!" She was obviously having the time of her life. "Don't sing."

Good thing, he chuckled in response despite of the implicit insult.

_[Can I be close to you?  
__Ooh-oo-oo-ooh, ooh  
__Can I be close to you?  
__Ooh, ooh]_

As she wished, he didn't sing. He was smart and kind enough to settle with mouthing the lyrics; Chloe giggled at how silly he looked. It went on for some time – he made an effort and she would sincerely chuckle in enchantment. Maybe it was the sense of solace, or maybe it was the influence of the song because then they're hands were already touching, cheerful faces gradually falling in a growing consciousness, their eyes engaged in a different way, and the reach of their breaths nearly overlapping in a closing distance.

He was leaning in, she was waiting. He wanted to kiss her so bad, she wanted to be complete again. All he had to do was to erase the gap, touch her lips with his, and it could be game over. Fuck. Chloe backed away the last minute… because she was still thinking about Beca. She stared at her feet, didn't apologize, but he did with a bittersweet smile.

"I'll go grab some drinks," he offered.

She produced a smile as she nodded her head then off he went. Chloe breathed sharply trying to ignore what could have happened. If she didn't want it, Beca shouldn't be the reason first and foremost. She shouldn't matter anymore. It shouldn't feel like cheating on her anymore. Give Ben a chance, right? Chloe sighed and put on a smile. Yeah, give him a chance. Maybe she could let him kiss her, check if there would be… _something_. Nevertheless, she came face-to-face with a blonde stranger. She was wearing a cute floral sundress and fuss-free sandals for the occasion, but her half-shaved head and dip dyed hair stole away the redhead's sense of reason. No formal introductions, the blonde just finished what Ben had started. Too stunned, Chloe found herself paralyzed even after that sweet kiss.

"I need to open a door," the stranger whispered into Chloe's ear. "Something tells me you're the key. You don't know who I am, but you're going to come with me."

And that was it. The girl in a floral sundress left and the redheaded monster trailed behind her, no questions asked.

* * *

_Song titles: (1) Do You Wanna Build a Snowman? - Kristen Bell [Frozen OST] (2) Bloom - The Paper Kites_

_Your thoughts on Rem's allegiance... fire away, people!_

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Pitch Perfect.


	12. Disclose

_**RobOverstreet: **You're welcome! :)_

**_avidreader:_**_ We'll get there, dear._

**_purplefurball:_**_ I ran out of ideas for this chapter, and your review helped me through this block. Thanks! Rem surely is an interesting addition._

**_NightmareWalker:_**_ I am very meticulous when it comes to picking the songs, so I'm really glad that the hardwork pays off. LOL. Rem is a blessing for me because she was never part of the original plan until somebody made some suggestions. She kind of filled some gap, like, for example 'who the fuck ever maintained that cabin?' Besides, Beca definitely needs to have an antithesis that quite resembles her own just so she can realize how annoying she could be sometimes (does this make sense?)._

**_Guest_**_ (Mar 28): Did it because whatever he does and no matter how much of a jerk Beca could turn into, he just can't win the sympathy of most people. _

**_BeChloeFan01: _**_Who knows what's going on in that half-shaved head? LOL. BeChloe is still going to happen. Have faith!__  
_

**_asdfg:_**_ She can take them all single-handed. LOL._

**_GinNoSaji:_**_ When Beca said 'nothing', she totally meant the opposite, and Chloe knew that. So she had to say 'for real this time' which means, Chloe really had to mean nothing after that. That way, she would be useless to the enemies. Now about Rem, I don't know if it was a typo on your part, but she' doesn't work for Clarence. It's Benji. __I hope this helps. And big thanks for reading and leaving a review! :)_

**_DJBMitch:_**_ You'll get some answers this chapter. Those left unanswered, I'll remember to find a way to reveal them to everybody on later chapter/s especially the explanation on kissing them both. I know you hate him, but we'll get more of Ben._

_**madness2013, Guest **(Mar 27): I can't promise anything._

_**Guest **(Mar 27): All thanks to a certain blonde rebel._

**_Yan:_**_ Okay, frankly, I was weirded out with Beca disguised as Rem because I don't think she would ever do it actually, but at least you had a correct guess. Congrats! :)_

___**Guest **(Mar 27): And now that's my line! I've never met someone who listens to them until now. Paper Kites!_

**___anon:_**___ Dude, no._

**___Natali1798:_**___ Love is really weird, isn't it? You got your heart broken for a million times and you still come back for more. Totally Chloe! But I love you too. :)_

___I'm a big Bechloe fan, but I honestly feel bad for him when you keep hating on Ben. LOL. And I may be have a hangover, so things may not make sense from this point forward._

* * *

CHAPTER ELEVEN: **Disclose**

Jesse plugged a tiny dongle into the laptop's USB port. The computer system read the device and soon, all the data and software that the IT expert needed for his work had started to load on the screen. Aubrey quietly watched in awe as the guy seated on the floor maneuvered them in such a proficient flow. Consumed, she wasn't aware that her hand was already slowly reaching to touch the dongle, only when the old Phoenix swatted her beloved hand away that she gained consciousness. He instantly realized the trouble he just got himself into and flashed a fucked up grin for escape. Thank goodness, the Posen heiress was too fascinated and dumbfounded to even throw a dirty look at him.

"What are you doing?" she asked with utmost interest.

"This," he pointed to the dongle, "is what I call codenamephoenix. It contains all the viable information that could lead us to locating the treasure, and it keeps it secured. Only an authorized person, that's me, could open this program."

"So this little thing is that important, huh?"

She was doing it again. She just couldn't resist the urge to reach for the device and touch it. Jesse, however, was sensitive enough to swat her hand away for the second time.

"I-I'm sorry," he held up his hands apprehensively. "J-Just… please don't touch it."

"What's Fat Amy up to?" she inquired instead of yelling at him contrary to what he had expected.

"She's scanning the cabin and transmitting the data to me."

So what about her? The Posen heiress leaned her back on the wall and crossed her arms on her chest stubbornly. Something told her she was starting to be useless in this mission. The horrible monster herself was being kind enough not to say it out loud, and a bonus friendly gesture of letting her join them in the cabin instead of staying back in Pandemonium with Skyler and Cynthia-Rose. Aubrey wanted to help, but they wouldn't let her do anything. She wasn't as fragile as Chloe!

"Hey," Stan sat next to her with a pistol on hand. "You want to help me clean this thing?"

Her face instantly lit up at the opportunity. At least someone else thought she was still worth something here. Maybe she owed it to the mystery blonde woman. Since then, the young Mitchell was beginning to pay more attention to her.

"There are a total of thirty keyholes in this cabin that the key could perfectly fit into," Fat Amy reported to the Head Phoenix according to the results flashing on her laptop. But that didn't mean all of them could open another door, of course. Beca sighed in dismay.

"Just say the word and I will go look for her," Stan told her, referring to Rem. Fine, at times, he was still thinking about that half-shaved blonde head highlighted with shades of rainbow. "She could help us, kiddo."

The notorious brunette deliberately ignored her brother's offer. No, not that stupid little piece of shit again. Beca already had enough of her crazy antics. They could and they would find the treasure even without the help of the so-called cheat code.

"She built this cabin," he added recalling her claims. "She could possibly just tell you which one is the right keyhole."

"Your brother's right… kiddo," Thud muttered ending in a low voice that was almost a whisper. Was he allowed to call his boss by the nickname?

"Deep down, you know she can help," Aubrey, surprisingly, supported the pleading in favor of the mystery blonde woman. "Otherwise, you wouldn't be taking her advice. You wouldn't be trying to use the key."

Before the mighty Phoenix could decide to give in and surrender to the majority's collective judgment, thankfully, a sound of gunfire was heard from outside, saving her from potential humiliation and maintained her level of toughness which had always been remarkably high. Thud checked on the security monitor to find some Syndics charging in around the vicinity. Puzzling though, none of them was actually able to reach the cabin when the entire group was not making any counter-attack against the enemies.

Stan prepared his pistol and held Aubrey close to him, bracing for the Syndics to come bursting through the door and fire their way. Thud, too, was all set with Fat Amy and Jesse stationed behind him for refuge. But the Head Phoenix didn't move an inch and simply stood in place. Something's not right here. The enemies should have reached them by this moment. Instead, the sound of gunfire was growing distant as if there was something leading the pack away from the rightful position until one loud bang went off apparently right from by the front porch. Beca finally decided to check it out followed closely by the others, and to their surprise, Chloe was standing outside holding up a gun and a man freshly collapsed on the ground. The mighty Phoenix rushed to her side with Thud and Stan in assistance as more Syndics came to view – the young heiress was too exposed at her location.

"W-What took you so long?" she asked the brunette, her voice was shaking along with her entire body.

"You're not supposed to be here!" Beca shot back, taking away the gun from the redhead and dragging her into the protection of the cabin where Aubrey greeted her best friend with a relieved hug. "Chloe, what are you doing out there? It's too dangerous!"

"I know… I-I didn't kill them, right?"

The Head Phoenix was taken aback at the inquiry. Chloe was using a gun, no doubt about it. Nonetheless, she went back outside to check on the bodies sprawled on the ground; there were no blood, only tiny dart missiles shot into every single victim. They were also breathing, certainly still alive. What the hell did the redheaded monster did to them?

Soon after the shootout had subsided and the Syndics were all but exterminated, a wrecked Dodge Viper came rolling down the road. Swiftly, it parked in between the black 1962 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder and an old van like a scene ripped out straight from GTA. Stan and Thud pointed their guns towards the car in pure vigilance when the door flung open and no other than Rem herself alighted. She appeared sophisticated more than ever, sporting a red sheer blouse paired with faux leather leggings and boots, strutting as if the walk towards the mighty Phoenix was a fashion runway; if only she wasn't holding a Mini-Uzi in one hand and a bloody human heart in the other.

"They're all dead," she tossed the heart to the brunette as if it was some baseball then ultimately killed off Chloe's victims. "Now no man's left to report back to the Head Syndic."

The other merely glared at her then turned around. If blondie was expecting a thank you, she would die waiting for it because it would never come out of the mighty Phoenix's mouth, especially not for her.

"Wait!" Chloe hurriedly ran to the duo and stood in between them. "She's a friend."

Beca looked up to see the look on her ex's face. Goddamn it, she was serious! She turned around, and that fucking smirk plastered on the blonde's lips was more than infuriating. The mighty Phoenix was losing this battle, and she hated losing, more so being beaten by this devil. Hence, she grabbed Chloe by the arm and dragged her away. This madness was going to stop this instance. However, the cheat code just wouldn't quit and jumped in the way.

"Hey! You're not allowed to do that!" she reprimanded Beca, breaking off the grip. "She's my bitch now, so she stays with me!"

What?

"That's right, Tink. Sealed with a kiss."

Startled, the brunette turned to Chloe who gave her a mouthful of stammers as a response, and so she turned back to the blonde with eyes sharpened by anger. What the fuck did this devil do to her most precious treasure?

"Leave," she demanded with much indignation weaved into the lone word.

"No," was the firm response, unyielding and irritatingly derisive.

Beca pointed a gun at her ready to shoot, but the receiver only reacted with a laugh.

"That's kind of a blowgun I gave her," she explained. "The darts can only paralyze someone for a period of time, not permanently kill. I figured it would suit Miss Goody-goody."

Paralysis wasn't the aim. Death was Beca's only wanted choice; somebody had to murder this hullabaloo as soon as possible. Therefore, the mighty Phoenix pulled the knife out of her pocket and thrust it towards the target who was quick enough to purposely yank the nearby redhead to pose as her most effective shield. Amazing how the brunette was able to restrain herself during that split second, the tip of the knife hanging just a couple of centimeters away from her ex's stomach.

"You really are good," the blonde commended the exceptional skill on self-control.

"R-Rem?" Chloe croaked. "W-What are you doing?"

"Oh you'll be fine, dear," assured her new friend, planting a beaming peck on the back of her hair.

Provoked by the loving motion she had just witnessed, Beca recomposed herself to launch yet another attack. Even with Chloe covering most of the target, the mighty Phoenix could still see a wide opening. Unfortunately, Rem had already anticipated the move. She grabbed Chloe's hands from behind and guided them to fight back the horrible monster. She was taller and her extremities were longer, so it was as easy as controlling a poor little marionette. Beca attacked, Rem moved and so did Chloe.

"Why so serious, Tink?"

The taunting wasn't really helping the cause. It was only adding more fuel into the burning flame. Beca shifted to the side for a broader range, but Rem promptly hauled Chloe over to maintain the shield. Maybe a little jab on the mighty Phoenix wouldn't hurt. The rest of the crew, meanwhile, watched in complete amusement; the notorious brunette had never been this challenged in a fight, let alone a simple hand-to-hand combat.

"Is this really how you treat your friends?" Rem questioned, blocking another set of punches from the quiet cricket. "We're here to help. You're welcome."

But Beca was no longer listening, too determined to finish off this source of craziness in all sorts. She hastily pitched her knife aiming for the hazel eye peering above the strands of red locks, blondie pushed her body over Chloe's back to duck them both and so the sharp weapon landed on the wooden post right next to Jesse, causing him that mini heart attack.

"Beca, stop!"

The poor little marionette finally found the courage to scream out, and almost in automatic, the horrible monster did as she was told, preventing her to dodge a jab. Wow, this key was more powerful than Rem had thought. The mighty Phoenix was her very own marionette.

"You don't have to kill everybody!" the redhead yelled at the brunette upon her release, breathing heavily, exhausted. "For once, could you just accept people's help? Fine, not from me. But Rem here can help you!"

Strange as it seemed, the Head Phoenix was listening, backing down, considering every single idea thrown her way. Heaving out a sigh, she turned to the blonde. "What do you want?"

"A place on your team," answered Rem; she's not going to let this limited offer pass.

"Okay."

That easy. No argument, no conditions.

"I'll show you Back to Basics," the cheat code promised. "But we'll have to come back some other time. Another team of Syndics surely must be on their way. We can't risk them discovering that you're alive."

"But we can't just leave the cabin in the open," Jesse protested.

She rolled her eyes like it's the most stupid thing ever. She walked towards the stairs and reached in for the hidden controls below. Bit by bit, the entire structure started to conceal itself, returning to its original state the way Beca and Cynthia-Rose had first found it. A minute or so had passed and it was disguised, again, as an ordinary cabin.

"Let's go?"

Left with no other choice, everybody started preparing to head out. Maybe old habits die hard because Beca froze in place and expected her lady boss to leave with her. Chloe, however, merely gave her a glance then followed Rem into their own service. Stay out of each other's lives, right? It was only proper that they would end up in different cages. Hence, the Head Phoenix hopped into her Ferrari and sped away, not bothering to wait for the rest of the team. Typical.

"Welcome to Team Pura!" Fat Amy excitedly rolled down her windows to chitchat while the others were settling in; she's beginning to be a big fan, seriously. "Nice car, by the way. So how could you afford a Viper, eh?"

"Stole it," was the casual response. Of course, she did.

"Follow my lead, crazy blonde," Thud instructed the third blonde in the group as they drove off.

Rem made a positive salute then threw a quick glance at her awfully silent passenger. "Say something, Chloe, or I'll kiss you… again."

"You did it on purpose, didn't you?" said the redhead. "You knew she would react that way."

"Let's just say I did some research, and you're the most popular result."

Chloe scoffed. "I'm nothing to her. I'd die and she probably wouldn't care."

"Oh no," the other strongly shook her head in disagreement. "You see, you're not allowed to die. All hell would break loose if you did. Your ex is a kaiju disguised in a fairy's body, alright? I wonder how you two ever happened. It's... weird. Besides, what I saw back there… it doesn't look like nothing to me."

The blonde threw another glance at the passenger to offer a playful wink. What a relief to know she was as good in cheering people up as stealing kisses.

"Just humor me though." Rem untangled the bandana wrapped around to cover the phoenix tattoo on her forearm and handed it over. "Put it on. It'll drive her nuts."

The young heiress stared at the material for a moment. It was never the best idea to madden the horrible monster, yet by experience, an annoyed Beca had always been hilarious. So why not go on with this prank? If something would have gone wrong, the new team member would surely come to the rescue anyway.

* * *

Little Maverick took a deep breath and wiped the beads of sweat formed on his forehead with his own slightly mucky sleeve. He gripped on the brush with both his small hands and pushed it back and forth against the dining floor to scrub off the unwanted mess. After a few more strokes and he had to stop again. This wasn't what he signed up for!

"So what did you do this time, kiddo?"

He breathed out another exhausted sigh before looking up to his volunteer partner. The future CEO of McDouglas group of companies had his business attire rolled up for such occasion – his executive position completely forgotten as he mopped the floor clean.

"I started a food fight," answered the kid with a frown.

Ben let out a chuckle. "Is it worth it?"

"No," Maverick shook his head, his curly hair adorably bouncing as he did. "But at least Hank would probably stop bullying me from now on after I showered him with spaghetti sauce."

"You're tough." It was a compliment. "I wish I could have been a brave little warrior too back when I was a kid."

"You were bullied too?"

"My older brother did all sorts of things to me. He tried to drown me in the pool once just to find out if I'd actually die. I wish I could have stood up to him like you did to Hank."

"Your brother sounds mean. Where is he now?"

Ben shrugged his shoulders. "Doing what he does best, I guess."

"Let's tell Becky," the kid proposed. "She will kick his sorry butt. She's like a superhero, you know."

"I'm sure she is…" the other's voice trailed off as the conversation drifted to a new topic. What was it with Beca that she seemed to have won everybody's hearts without even trying to? "You really like her, don't you?"

"Yeah… I had to give up Chloe for her, but we're friends… and she helps me with my Math."

"I can help you with that."

Maverick, however, responded with a snicker. It was not insulting in a way, but it only showed just how disadvantaged Ben was in the competition. The cricket wasn't even physically present to defend her title.

"Benjamin!"

Ronie's voice echoed all across the dining hall followed by the clacking noises made by her shoes as she hurried to the young businessman. Senior McDouglas wouldn't be happy to find out that his sole heir was doing some janitor's job in this forlorn home.

"What the H-E-double-L are you doing?" she snatched the mop from his grip and placed a hand on her hip. "Look at your clothes!"

"I'm fine," he wore a humbled grin. "I'm just helping out Jean Valjean here."

"Maverick," the Chief Directress turned to the kid kneeling on the wet floor. "I think you've learned your lessons here. Go tell the kitchen staff to fix all these."

Pleased with his dismissal, the detainee bolted out of the door, leaving the two adults behind.

"You shouldn't be doing this, for Christ's sake!" She fetched the expensive coat set on top of one of the dining tables for the visitor.

Ben chuckled at the special treatment he had been commonly experiencing – one of the many perks of belonging to a certain socio-economic status. The kitchen staff had already arrived to finish the job (properly), so he hung his coat over his shoulder and retrieved his socks and shoes from the floor before following Ronie out to the hallway.

"I'll show you to the quarters so you could freshen up."

"Thanks, Veronica."

"Now come along."

"Has Chloe arrived yet?" was his primary concern though.

"She's not coming in today."

"Oh," he sounded disappointed. "Uh… did she say why?"

Ronie briefly threw a rather suspicious look at him as they approached the stairs.

"Well," Ben started. "The weather's nice today. We could picnic with the kids."

"How romantic! Chloe's absence would surely be missed then."

"Would you know where she's gone?"

"She didn't tell you?"

The young man shook his head causing Ronie to pause from her tracks, slightly confused until she had managed to put the puzzle pieces together. Of course, Chloe wouldn't tell him.

"Maybe she doesn't want you to know."

There was something about that sentence.

"Beca," he muttered under his breath.

"You know what?" Ronie made another halt as they reach the main door to the quarters and spun around to face her daughter's rival. "I really think you two would be a perfect couple. You're a good man, Benjamin. I know Chloe likes you, very much, and she's trusted you even when the rest of us didn't. I've seen all your efforts, Beca would never be able to do them, so more than her or anyone… you truly deserve to have Chloe."

So what's keeping it from happening?

"We don't always get what we deserve, do we?" was the answer, a consolation bordered between the best and the worst – the fact that he deserved Chloe and the tragic twist that he would never have her.

"If I was somehow younger, I'd take her place, you know. Any girl would be lucky to have you."

Ben snickered at the effort. "Thanks, Veronica."

"Call me 'Ronie'," she put on a motherly smile. Sure, he had already gained the necessary amount of trust to earn the opportunity to call her by the nickname.

* * *

"Don't sing!" Chloe exclaimed as she pressed the phone against her ear, letting out a few giggles as well. "Just pick a book to read. They do enjoy a fully-animated story-telling. Don't murder them, you goofy!"

Too engrossed in the phone conversation, the young heiress failed to notice the arrival of the black Ferrari and the very quiet cricket sneaking into a considerable distance behind her, struggling to listen, secretly longing to touch her dearly just like the old times. A time like this, the urge to drop everything and just run away with the redheaded monster was at its strongest temptation.

"It's not-"

Chloe instantly froze when she turned around and came eye-to-eye with the one and only mighty Phoenix, the person cheerfully conversing at the other end of the line was momentarily forgotten. Damn it. Those eyes, those dark blue eyes – still spellbinding.

"I-I have to go," she told the guy patiently waiting for her response. "Uh… call you later?"

She hardly paid any attention to his closing remarks, tapped the end button and tucked the phone away into her pocket. The best thing to could have done in this situation was walk away and find solitude in her other friends gathered inside the cabin, but she was such a masochist to consciously choose to endure the pain of staring at that one person who loved to push her away.

"It's not safe to make phone calls," said the horrible monster. "Or let alone bring an electronic device."

That's it. Why did she always have to hint a start of an argument? Couldn't she just strike a normal conversation? Not everything had to be dealt in a battle of whatsoever.

"Fat Amy secured the line," was Chloe's defense as she headed for a way out which solely was that little space occupied by the notorious brunette. "Don't worry. I won't do anything to jeopardize your mission."

"It's him, isn't it?"

That sudden inquiry and the sense of jealousy weaved into it prompted the young heiress to stop, of all places as if done on purpose, right by the side of the Head Phoenix that she could clearly see the blank canvass in her peripheral view.

"Are you dating him now?" Beca proceeded with a new question.

"Do you care?" Chloe had to ask because it would be a big deal if she did.

"No," lied the other.

Hiding the amount of chagrin she felt, the redhead replied, "Then don't ask."

"Hey, former-slash-maybe-current-slash-possibly-future lovebirds!" Rem was standing at the cabin entrance with her arms folded upon her chest. "Are you two coming in or what?"

Without a word, both composed themselves to join the rest of them. They both walked, one trailing behind the other; they couldn't be on the same plane anymore, it was too suffocating. It wasn't helping at all that there was the strangest of them all whom had the best seat to witness them both got eaten by a giant quicksand of repressed emotions.

"So Back to Basics," the Head Phoenix reminded everyone about their main purpose here.

The cheat code presented her open palm and demanded, "Give me the key."

Beca didn't move. Instead, she returned an odd look. It was a very simple demand yet very difficult to fulfill. Nobody knew anything about this mystery blonde woman. She was like a meteor which one day just came crashing down into their lives. Handing her over the key would be like handing her over the treasure itself.

"The key."

"I don't trust you," was the blatant confession.

"You don't have to," the other shot back with a snicker. "I just have to do my job, that's all."

If this was emotional appeal, it frankly had no effect on the callous warrior.

"I trust her," her brother declared. Beca could roll her eyes – Stan and his very obvious crush on the girl. Nonetheless, the rest of the team, one by one, expressed their approval with her ex as the last say.

Losing to the decision of the majority, the Head Phoenix unwillingly fished the key out of her pocket and surrendered it to the cheat code. Perhaps, it was intentional on Rem's part when her hand clenched the key securely and displayed such a cunning smirk because Beca, for a moment there, thought the team had been betrayed. But then, blondie made a little bow to reassert her loyalty and servitude before walking over to the backdoor, the most obvious and so the least expected location of the right keyhole.

"To tell you the truth, you didn't have to go through all the items. That's what Benji wanted, but you shouldn't have. It's a lure, a trap. There's no such thing as a secret when it's out in the open."

"Don't let your eyes deceive you," Thud mumbled to himself. It was his mantra! How could he not see it coming?

The cheat code used the key and at the sound of a clank, the wooden ceiling slowly began sliding to the side. What should have been a view of the roof was obstructed by a large blackboard. On the blackboard, written in chalk instead of the usual computer codes, was the very blueprint of Benji's plans.

"There," Rem caught their attention once more. "That's Back to Basics."

_NO gadgets, Benji! NO traces!_ Yeah, the use of chalk was relatively back to basics. _Clarence, Luke, Phil,_ etc… everybody was included with their accurately defined roles to play in the game – it was like Benji had written history before it could even happen. Most remarkably of all the writings and illustrations was _WELCOME, BECA!_ He knew. He definitely knew she would come. It's as if this blueprint was intentionally made for her to figure out.

* * *

Music was blasting through the air, and drinks were pouring in, unlimited. Everybody was in a party mood; they just took the biggest step - finding the blueprint itself and destroying its remains, too late for The Syndicate to discover the same information. It was only rational for this little celebration to happen. Who knew if there's going to be another time for this in the future? For some inexplicable reason though, Chloe just couldn't bring herself into the same mood. She was a wallflower surrounded by an oblivious crowd.

Even Jesse was having fun, currently playing League of Legends at the corner table as the young heiress passed by. Thud trailed behind Fat Amy, balancing five plates with his buff arms while Aubrey and Rem, two of the people Chloe had expected to be her company this evening, were playing beer pong with Stan and Cynthia-Rose and some other Phoenixes. Perhaps, it would be unfair to be such a poop in this time of festivity, so Chloe continued to walk further away from the party. She turned to a corner only to regret it when she found the Head Phoenix herself standing there all alone with her back leaned against the wall. The brunette didn't bother to throw her a glance despite of the evident fact that she was well-aware of her presence. Indifferently, she went on to play the sharp shuriken with her fingers.

Chloe was about to open her mouth to say something, for the same of being civil, when the door at the opposite side opened and Skyler came out with a half-empty bottle of Old No. 7 and two red cups in hand. Of course, Beca as it turned out wasn't really all by herself. Chloe was the only one.

"Oh, hi Chloe!" the taller brunette greeted chirpy.

The young heiress managed to produce a smile. All those times that had so far elapsed still weren't enough to get used to this personality in the physical appearance of Stacie Conrad.

"I hope you're having fun at the party."

Because feeling lonesome in a room full of people and finding your insensitive ex spending some exclusive time with another woman who had the face of a former fuck buddy were the pretentious definition of fun, Chloe eagerly nodded her head in response.

"But maybe I should get some fresh air for a while," she decided to add.

"I can ask some guards to accompany you on the surface if you want," offered the brunette.

"No, thanks," Chloe shook her head. "Uh… just let them enjoy the party. I think I can manage on my own anyway."

Skyler realized the cover-up and gave up with a small nod of understanding. The redhead forced one last smile and proceeded with her exit, waiting no more for the very quiet cricket to pitch in some words, even if they wouldn't make sense, to recognize her existence. In the end, the mighty Phoenix was still an expert in giving no shit about things and people.

"Would you look at that?" her babysitter teased. "You're not the only lonely one in this party after all. You two must have some very strong connection to be able to pull it off."

The notorious brunette suddenly threw the shuriken, landing on the opposite wall just a few inches away from a potential easy target. She never missed, Skyler essentially reminded herself. She then handed a red cup to the boss and poured some alcohol into it to serve its purpose.

"You're supposed to be celebrating," said the inferior Phoenix. "You've found the treasure map. It's only a matter of time before you find the treasure."

As usual, Beca didn't reply.

"You're a great leader, Beca. The Secret Society would have never managed to survive if it weren't for you. Maybe it can do away without the treasure. Don't you think we can all stop now?"

The mighty Phoenix took a drink and mumbled, "You don't get it."

"What?"

"I'm not in it to acquire some stupid wealth. I'm in it to save everyone. That's my job, and it will only end when Bumper and his Syndics end."

"No, you don't get it!" exclaimed the other happily as though she learnt a major loophole in the argument. "Look, I didn't know anything about you when you showed up in my house. Up to this date, I still have no idea why, but you did save my life. And now you're trying to save twelve million lives more. Don't you think it's time to save whatever is left of yours? You probably don't get it, but perhaps, you do need some saving too, Beca."

Unappreciated, the advice was deliberately thrown out of the window.

"Fine, give me that!" Skyler snatched the red cup away from her already glaring boss. "Newsflash: God also took a break, so why won't you?"

The Head Phoenix cocked an eyebrow at the bewildering stand of her babysitter.

"Go!"

"I am capable of slaughtering you."

"See? You definitely need to get some fresh air too. Don't hurt Chloe, okay?"

Skyler left her with a knowing look, finally joining the rest of the group in the lively party. Beca was suddenly fixed at the closed door and the muffled sound of house music until she realized that Skyler had a point. The fact that she looked exactly like Stacie was adding pressure into it. In surrender, the mighty Phoenix found herself heading towards the other direction, stepping into the elevator capsule that would take her up to the ground, to fresh air, to Chloe, to everything she needed.

"It's not really safe up here," she told the redhead seated over an unconventional lounge intended to be left unnoticed by passers-by.

Chloe looked up to see the last person she predicted to keep her company this fateful evening. "What are you doing here?"

Failing to come up with a plausible answer, Beca shrugged her shoulders awkwardly before deciding to take a seat on the lounge. Time ticked by and neither spoke a word nor further acknowledged the presence of one another. Oddly, the feeling was both familiar and not. Weird it was when it felt like it had been ages since they last shared this kind of moment, bizarre that in spite of it, there was a silent mutual agreement that it was still sanctuary - this with her and her. It's like unfortunate events built barriers between them, yet they still enchantingly found their way back to each other.

"Do you want to go someplace else?" the very quiet cricket, surprisingly, asked.

The redhead turned to look at her, confused more than anything. So what happened to staying out of each other's lives? What happened to labeling this entire relationship as nothing? Imaginably, all these questions and a hundred more of them were manifested into the pair of bright blue eyes and so as a reply, Beca delicately placed a hand on the angelic face and leaned in for a kiss.

Startled at first, Chloe eventually kissed her back. Every second spent seemed to have erased every single pain collected in the last months and most recent weeks. Magical how an entire being was focused in this inadvertent gesture.

"Why?" Chloe questioned in a faint whisper. She had enough of playing games if this was another attempt at toying her emotions.

The unpredictable one planted another kiss on her lips. "Because I normally suck at giving speeches."

"Okay," was all the other could really say at the moment along with few giggles.

So, Beca held up a hand which the young heiress gladly took – god, that tingling sensation radiating at the touch of friction; the selfish desire to wish it would never come to a close. One command on the Head's communication device and the classic Ferrari swiftly came to fetch them surely for a night to remember.

* * *

_[She'll lie and steal, and cheat, and beg you from her knees_  
_Make you think she means it this time_  
_She'll tear a hole in you, the one you can't repair_  
_But I still love her, I don't really care]_

For the first time since it was fully-restored, the built-in stereo was finally put into use. The car was parked on top of a hill, the beautiful Atlanta skyline at eye level, and a landscape of millions of stars hanging up above. Really, it was a shocker that someone like a cold-blooded beast would ever be a patron of such a romantic spot.

_[When we were young, oh, oh, we did enough_  
_When it got cold, ooh, ooh, we bundled up_  
_I can't be told, ah, ah, it can't be done]_

No distractions made by a buzzing iPhone and no comfort from a tough-looking black leather jacket; Beca and Chloe sat on the hood with an entire feast of Taco Bell take-out set between them. This had to be the best picnic at midnight yet. Strange as it seemed, Fat Amy was absent to enjoy it. It was just two of them, defenseless yet safeguarded, living such cherished moment.

_[It's better to feel pain, than nothing at all_  
_The opposite of love's indifference_  
_So pay attention now, I'm standing on your porch screaming out_  
_And I won't leave until you come downstairs]_

"What do you call a cow with epilepsy?"

"What?"

"Beef jerky."

Both cracked up like pair of idiots with Beca holding Chloe by the hand to prevent the redheaded monster from falling off the hood. Just in case.

"Okay, I got something!" she eagerly tucked on the Phoenix's hand to make sure she had all the attention. "Knock knock."

"Who's there?"

"Amish."

"Amish who?"

The joker merely put on a wide grin for quite some time. "I miss you too."

"And I thought I'm the corny one here." Chuckling nevertheless, the brunette gently pulled the other for another sweet and gentle and romantic smooch. "I won't try to stay out of your life anymore."

It had been one hell of a vicious cycle that made declarations like this from the mighty Phoenix seemed so surreal it would take more than courage and leap of faith to be convinced this time around, a consequence of that little story called The Boy Who Cried Wolf.

"If I'm going to be honest with you," said Beca, "you ought to know that I want to be with you. All the time, 24/7 in fact. Chloe, I want you to be mine again. Forever."

"Really?"

What was supposedly a Great Wall of Numbness nodded her head out of overwhelming emotions until a painful truth was hitting her on the chest, swallowing what little remained of hope for this burned out fire, causing a frown across her face.

"You'll always be that person I need but never deserve. I-"

"I love you," Chloe cut her off immediately. "That's all that matters. I love you, cricket."

She flashed a wild smile, it was unbelievable. Really, the horrible monster must have done something right to have her feelings be reciprocated like this and more. She didn't and would never deserve Chloe Beale. Life, however, was unfair to begin with. Some things just would never make sense some times, but that didn't mean it's wrong or incompatible. It's just one of those unsolvable mysteries.

"I love you," Beca told Chloe with a contented smile. It wasn't because she was having a break; it's something that would last long after that. "Just in case you're wondering. Not maybe or possibly. I am most certainly and irrevocably in love with you. Not still, just always."

Chloe was ecstatically paralyzed for a moment. Well, she hadn't heard those words for a very long time.

"I'm jealous of that stupid blonde," confessed the mighty Phoenix, pulling out her knife to cut the neatly folded bandana wrapped around Chloe's forearm. "Fucking cheat code."

The other couldn't help but laugh at the reaction. "She really knows how to get to you, huh?"

"She's evil." The suspected devil herself rolled her eyes. "And I guess now I know how it feels like to get hit by a train for a hundred times over, fall off from the very peak of the Burj Khalifa, have all your arms and legs chopped off… because that's how it feels like whenever I think about you with Benedict."

"Benjamin," corrected the redhead. Beca and her defense mechanism of modifying names. "I love you. We can start again, alright?"

Beca nodded her head and met the love of her life with a passionate kiss. Chloe tried to sneak out just for the sake of annoying the other, but the brunette was quick enough to keep her in place and deepened the kiss. The Taco Bell feast of boundary line was neglected; they'd worry about all the mess later. Come to think of it, they never had sex in a car before this.

* * *

"Becky!"

Maverick ran as fast as he could in order to catch up with his favorite friend. Fortunately, Chloe required her to stop and wait for the little man. He paused shortly to catch his breath then held up a hand to signal them to be kind enough to wait for it.

"We will have a soccer game this weekend at the open field," he exhaled. "Come watch me play."

"Are you good at it?" Beca asked with disdain earning a hard nudge from her girlfriend. "Fine, I'll be there."

"You're the best!" exclaimed the kid in great excitement with a tight hug around her legs; a few uncaring taps was all his friend could return. He shot a big grin at Chloe then dashed back to class; his teacher would totally freak out when she'd find out that he's gone again.

The pair finally walked out of the building when Ben McDouglas came in. A smile was already plastered on his lips especially for Chloe but it gradually disappeared at the sight of hands lovingly intertwined together. Clearly, it was game over for him. Nevertheless, he forced a pleasant smile at the brunette who obviously loathed him more that he could ever imagine.

"I'll wait for you in the car," Beca told Chloe before leaving them together. The guy needed to hear his doom.

"I see you two are back together," was all he could utter.

Chloe made a small nod and a repressed smile. How would you do it? How would you reject someone _unrejectable_? She heaved out a sigh then held his hands. She chuckled a little because she had nothing to say, shockingly. Hence, she looked up to meet his eyes, stared at them for a reasonable time – somehow, they made her feel… not lonely and more than alright during those down times – and tiptoed to give him a kiss on the cheek followed by a quick friendly hug. Selfish possibly, but that's all she could really offer to him, and so she walked away to meet her chosen destiny.

"I lied when I said I didn't want to replace her," he hurriedly spoke out in an attempt to make her stop and it did. "I love you, Chloe."

"You're a great friend, Ben."

One last look and Chloe was gone. She had left him forever. But it just couldn't be over for Ben yet. He shook his head in refusal, his eyes fixated on her trace while his hand retrieved his phone, desperately dialed a memorized number. A guy picked up at the other end, and Ben asked for his brother straightaway. Afterwards, the older McDouglas, the estranged one who went by his first and middle name after his father had disowned him, greeted with a sinister laugh.

"Long time no talk, dude."

"Bumper," Ben breathed out. This was his only chance. If he couldn't have Chloe, then no one else would. "Your Phoenix is alive. I know where you can find her."

* * *

_Song: Stubborn Love - The Lumineers_

_This will help everybody visualize the "blueprint": Chalkboard-432596717_

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Pitch Perfect.


	13. Strike

**_charliepollock1357, Guest _**_(Apr 15): Update here!_

**_SuperFreakingDuper: _**_Don't worry about it. It happens to me when I'm too excited too! :)_

**_lyssaspeakgood: _**_I hope you did get some sleep._

**_aimeekiwi93: _**_Now I feel stupid because I'm not entirely sure what you meant._

**_oilzz and stuff:_**_(1) They had to get back together or it's over. (2) Rem and Skyler will stay whether Beca likes it or not. (3) Although I concentrated on Ben's relationship with his brother a.k.a. Bumper, well done for figuring out about the jealousy theme. Thanks! (4) He could be trusted, actually. It's just that he's been twisted by his emotions already._

**_fullsincerity, Illithyia, Guest _**_(Apr 4), _**_RawR, Guest_**_(April 4)_**_: _**_Love__ makes you do crazy things, I guess._

**_shifter boy, Rennie Laroche: _**_Boycott? That's sad…_

**_Guest _**_(Apr 6): Totally!_

**_Yan: _**_That's the dream. LOL._

**_RobOverstreet: _**_Thought about it for a long time. Everybody hates Ben already anyway no matter what kind of effort he does._

**_DJBMitch: _**_It must have been a very pathetic move on his part, but I don't know, I think sometimes when you really love someone, you do some unjustified things. It's not right, but he had to do it. As for Chloe, she and Aubrey are super trying to fit in. I mean, it's not the life they're used to. It's easy to have them both kill people since this is fiction anyway, that's badass, but it doesn't seem right to me._

**_Kartoffel: _**_Don't you just love twists in stories? :)_

**_badwriters: _**_He won you over 'Do you wanna build a snowman?', didn't he?_

**_DieZeitVergeht: _**_Breathe._

**_kjennyperry: _**_Thanks, dear! :)_

**_Guest _**_(April 4): Everybody already hates him anyway. At least now, we have a perfectly good reason._

**_atty jannie: _**_I don't want to bore you out so… LOL._

**_apple-jacs: _**_Isn't it cool how Ben is nothing like Bumper except that they'd do anything to get what they want? And well, nobody's perfect._

**_MysticFalls94: _**_Actually, I intended that foreshadowing. It was perfect 'cause I knew it would give you some sort of an idea, and at the same time, a glimpse of Ben's personal life. I was kind of hoping to earn him some sympathy because frankly, I like him. LOL. I love Rem! And that human marionette part was my favorite too! She's the best antithesis to Beca. On Bechloe, as a fan, if they didn't get back together yet, I was going to lose my mind! And about Maverick, we're going to lose some beloved characters later on to be honest. But I CAN'T choose, so I'm going to leave it to fate… lottery!0_

**_asdfg: _**_Shit it is._

**_BeChloeFan01:_**_I'm still trying to figure out what to do exactly with Skyler, but I required myself to make her play a role in Bechloe's relationship – how the Stacie in her was able to convince Beca to gather her shit together and win Chloe back. We'll see more of the blueprint this chapter._

_I know this chapter is shorter than the usual, but I'm super enjoying my vacation time. Four years in college is over and I'm officially unemployed so no hate! LOL. This is for all the graduates and all the students cramming their way to the finish line... _

* * *

CHAPTER TWELVE: **Strike**

Chloe pulled the blanket further up to cover more of her naked body – man, that shivering cold morning breeze – then turned to her side and slid her hand onto the empty space of the bed. Wait, _empty_? Her eyes shut wide open and sat up in panic. No, not again! That pint-sized jerk had gone away again! She should have known that things were just too good to be true. There's just no such thing as a fairytale love story with Beca Mitchell.

"Good morning."

She followed the sound of a familiar monotonous voice to find her girlfriend clad in a plain black shirt and a pair of underwear, expertly preparing for breakfast in the kitchen located just a few meters away from the so-called bedroom.

"Something wrong?"

The young heiress couldn't help but heave out a sigh of relief when she realized the moment was real. The horrible monster had stayed as previously promised. "I thought you left."

"But I'm not going anywhere," swore the brunette with a small reassuring smile. That part of the past was already nothing but a nightmare which they had to work on putting behind their heads. "You don't have anything to worry about, sleepyhead."

Lying back down with a fulfilled smile on her lips, the sleepyhead closed her eyes and yawned, fighting off the urge to fall back to sleep. It helped when she breathed in the sweet aroma floating around the nearly empty apartment unit – hot chocolate, pancakes, bacon and eggs. Could this day get any better? Sure, a few minutes more and Beca's weight was upon the bed along with a tray of food especially prepared for her beloved princess.

"Breakfast in bed."

"You don't have tables and chairs," the redheaded monster pointed out as she sat up again, a mocking smirk was intended to further annoy the chef. "And I bet you _stole_ the plates and everything else from Skyler's unit."

"You're welcome," the other shot back as a reminder that a little gratitude was what she deserved for the effort at being romantic when it was in fact beyond her capacity as a human being.

Chloe giggled and gave her a kiss fit to commence a lovely morning. Later on, she realized that she should have saved it for desert after literally eating a real meal because a simple smooch like this was where things usually came to a start. There's something about the post-coital early morning scene which _always _seemed to have an effect on her girlfriend – hormones were flaring up and an upcoming unstoppable concupiscence was to be braced.

"Must… have… bacon…"

The redhead tried to reach for a strip only to be overcome by the tingling sensation brought about by the touch of Beca's skin upon hers – amazing the effect of those hands, her lips and even the coolness of her breath was. Goodbye, delicious breakfast meal. Adios, sheet of blanket. Chloe could only moan delightedly in response, her hands, too, thirstily snaking in under the black shirt.

"Wow," neither of them spoke out and shut the door close. "You're still in the honeymoon stage."

Caught in utter surprise, the pair broke apart and the heated make out session was unfortunately cut short. They turned towards the door, that stupid door they weren't aware was being opened amidst the morning treat, and found no other than Veronica Grant standing there, clearly amused. She playfully raised her eyebrows at them and that was when Chloe realized she was in full Commando before her girlfriend's mother's eyes for far too many time than destiny could possibly allow.

"Mom!"Beca groaned, retrieving her pants while the redhead desperately pulled the covers over her nakedness.

"What?" the older brunette shrugged her shoulders as innocently as possible. How could she act like this wasn't a very awkward situation! "It's not like this never happened before. Remember that time when-"

"What the fuck are you doing here?" the mighty Phoenix was almost shrieking at this point.

"Sometimes, I really wonder what could have been if I tried to abort you."

Beca rolled her eyes and gathered some clothes for her girlfriend who seemed to be holding her breath amidst the current situation. The bathroom would be the most comfortable jail for her during this surprise visit, but then the guest intentionally sat on the bed, locking the sheets under her butt, trapping the naked lady in refuge. She winked at Chloe causing the rush of blood underneath the angelic face.

"Why did I never buy a couch?" Beca mumbled to herself in regret.

"Your brother's looking for you," Ronie told her. "You're supposed to stay in Pandemonium, I learned. And Kimmy Jin is _not_ happy that you kidnapped Chloe for the evening."

Of course, it's entirely the cricket's fault again. Every fucking time.

"Mom, aren't you supposed to be at Barden right now?"

"Oh I'm not going to miss this moment for the world," Barden Chief Directress grinned wildly. She was enjoying this, obviously. "My secretary can handle things, you know. So, Chloe, dear, how would you rate this young lady's performance in bed?"

God, the young heiress turned bright red even more if that's even possible and spitted out a mouthful of stammers.

"Mom," hissed Beca.

"Threesome, then?"

"Mom!" The tone was more of an expression of disgust rather than apprehension."Get out!"

"Okay okay!" the older brunette held up her hands in surrender and prepared herself to leave. "Fine, I'll go. But you have to switch on your communication device and answer calls, young lady. You don't have to go sneaking around like some high school sweethearts. It's bullshit."

Her notorious daughter was already almost dragging her towards the door.

"And," Ronie forced a stop to say her primary concern of all. "I love you both, so don't you dare break up again or I'll kill you myself. It breaks everybody's hearts, just so you know. Now things are just getting better and better, don't be such a party poop."

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Just leave. _Please?_"

"Maverick and I will see you this weekend at the game, alright?"

Beca, of course, was being disinclined as conveyed by her body language but Chloe immediately made the final decision with pure eagerness and rosy cheeks. "We'll be there."

* * *

"The cabin's burned down, boss."

Bumper turned from Donald to Clarence searching for a valid explanation. What was this cabin all about that the Phoenixes made sure no Syndic would be left alive to tell the tale? The entire structure was even burned down to ashes. Certainly, it contained some information that the mighty Phoenix didn't want The Syndicate to discover.

"I don't know," was Clarence's partially honest statement of declaration. He knew it had to do something with Benji.

The Head Syndic squinted an eye at the claim, dubious. Why was it so hard to build a wall of trust when it was so easy to crush it into bits and pieces? "I thought we're on the same team, Mr. Beale."

"I vowed to be honest and I am."

"Well, then tell me the truth."

"Are you saying my boss is a liar?" Paul spoke from out of the blue, throwing a dirty look at the person he formerly served.

Bumper let out a small laugh in a mixture of amusement and mockery. Dogs – bravely barking and barking yet their loyalty depended on who could offer the best bone. "I'm sorry if there's a need for me to make sure that this alliance is as solid as a rock. Some people just can't always maintain their fidelity, can they, Paul?"

"I am trying to help you as much as I can," convinced Clarence before anything bad could ensue.

"Helping me means _not _helping the mighty Phoenix," the Head Syndic demanded.

"Beca?" questioned the other, puzzled until Bumper nodded his head for confirmation. "She's dead."

"Not anymore, apparently."

"But that's… impossible!"

"Beca Mitchell _is_ alive, Mr. Beale."

Clarence swore he could just die right then and there. If Beca was indeed alive, then it could only mean… No, he should have not been here. He shouldn't have struck a deal with the devil. Being honest to Bumper Allen was betraying his own daughter. _Chloe._ Did she know that the love of her life was alive? She must have, hanging out with Stan and the rest of the group. But she pushed her own father away because of the thought that the mighty Phoenix was already dead.

"I really want you to be on my team, dude, so here's the plan: We need to attack Pandemonium, retrieve the information they obtained from the cabin and then finish them off. I, myself, will lead the team to ensure that the operation won't fail. We have to destroy The Secret Society once and for all. I'm giving you a chance to save one. Whoever you choose, make sure you get _him_ or _her_ out of Pandemonium in time. Well… I just hope you have already made a decision."

_Stan or Chloe. Stan or Chloe. Stan or Chloe. And then Beca too. _Goddamn it! He had to save them all!

"I have," he heard himself mutter after what seemed like forever. "Call me if you have any more concern."

He gave Bumper one last look which the young man returned with his trademark smirk. Clarence calmly walked out the door with Paul vigilantly trailing behind him. They silently navigated their way out through the hallways, muted under the watchful eyes and sensitive ears of the Syndics. The car was already waiting outside as they descended the front stairs, both hopped in and drove away from the house of the devil.

"I need to talk to Chloe," he told his Head Security.

Paul had already worked on it, frankly. He pulled out his phone and gave it to his boss. On the screen was the young heiress' complete schedule for the day which Gail had secured from her good friend, Kimmy Jin.

* * *

Kimmy Jin had been hugging the gigantic bouquet of flowers, waiting for the signal to be given by her boss. It's either the prayer was taking too long or her feeble hands were not strong enough to carry the offering for the dead because she could already feel them shaking with sweat. Eugh.

"And _this_ is for you," the young heiress cheerfully took the bouquet from her executive assistant and carefully put it down by her mother's grave. "Beca helped pick them up, mom. Isn't it beautiful? And she says 'hi' also."

Aubrey shuddered in disgust listening to her best friend gushed over that little monster. "Mrs. Beale, as the _best _best friend in the world, I have to tell you that your daughter is doing a _lot_ of se-"

"Your daughter is _very_ happy!" Chloe emphasized after quickly cupping her best friend's blabby mouth with a hand as if the dead woman could even make some violent reactions in the first place. "But CNN newsflash: Posen here finally found a guy whom she thinks is good enough for her. I can definitely hear wedding bells, mom."

"Stan and I went out to see a movie, we had dinner. It's no big deal."

But her cheeks were already blushing and the dreamy look on her face couldn't hide the truth when all of a sudden, a convoy of four cars rolled down the road until it stopped nearby. The doors opened almost in unison, releasing the bodyguards out of their cages, and Clarence Beale was being escorted by the Head Security himself in no time.

"Chloe," he breathed out as soon as he reached the young redhead. "We need to talk."

He expected her to walk away, to be brushed off, his presence to be ignored, or receive a glare from his daughter in the most hurtful way a father could ever endure. Much to his surprise, however, she threw herself to him for a warm embrace. _Months_, it had been months since the last time. Clarence could hardly let go of his most precious treasure ever again.

"We have to go," was his greeting, worried and stressed with urgency. "Pack everything you need. Or not. We will manage. Just… We have to leave, Chloe. _Now_."

Of course, Chloe was taken aback by the sudden plans being shoved to her. "Dad… W-What do you mean 'leave'?"

"We have to leave Georgia," he answered then turned towards the blonde heiress. "Aubrey, stay away from Stan and stay close to your father all the time. Do you understand?"

Too confused, Aubrey couldn't even nod or shake her head.

"Dad, what's happening? Is this about the police or the company or your financial troubles? My finances are great, I can help you."

"No, honey. That's not what it is."

"Then what is _it_? Tell me what's happening, dad."

Clarence let out a defeated sigh. He wasn't ready to watch his daughter walk away from him again after all this time, but it's a risk worth taking other than lose her forever. He had to tell her the truth. She deserved to know. Thus, he pulled Chloe away from the others for a private family conversation.

"I made a terrible mistake," he confessed.

"What did you do?"

"I…" he glimpsed at his shoes, unsure about how to break out the news. "Had I known you've been helping The Society, I would have never done any of these. But, Chloe, it's happening and I won't let anybody hurt you, so we're leaving. We're going somewhere far far away, somewhere they won't be able to find us and try to live as normal as possible."

"No!" Chloe exclaimed immediately, shaking her head firmly in conscious defiance. Ronie was right, everything was just getting better. She couldn't leave at this point! She wasn't going to leave Beca for whatever reason even if it meant endangering her own life.

"Chloe, this is for your own good!"

"Dad, please!"

"Bumper is giving me a chance to save you and I'm going to take it!"

Both of them came to a pause at the slip of the tongue. Okay, there was no easy way to reveal the truth to begin with. There's no other bottom line to this heart-to-heart talk but this.

"Bumper?" Chloe decided to pretend she didn't hear her father right.

"I was falling apart, Chloe," Clarence tried to reason out even though he knew that it was already a lost cause. "Your mother's gone. I was losing you and the corporation. I wanted to do something. I wanted to get you back.

"So you're helping him find the treasure," she concluded.

"But that's 'cause you're not supposed to be involved again! You're not supposed to be joining The Secret Society! You were already safe! We shouldn't have to be discussing any of these matters anymore because you're supposed to be agreeing with my plan, pronto!"

"That's not how it works, dad! I think I'm old enough to make decisions for myself!"

"They will try to kill you, Chloe!"

"Then I'll try to defend myself!" countered the young heiress then sighed. It didn't have to be like this. They were the only ones left in the family. "You can come with me if you want."

"_No._ We have to run away. Now."

That's the only choice available on the table – it was either Clarence stayed with Bumper or ran away and hid with his daughter. That's all there was to be considered. Joining The Secret Society would only worsen the situation. If he did, The Syndicate would make sure that Clarence would have to pay the price for his betrayal; Chloe's life would be in so much more danger than it already was.

"Dad," Chloe grabbed his hands, briefly peered over at her mother's grave before looking back at him. "I love you. I want you to be safe, but I'm not going to run away. It just… It doesn't feel right for me."

"A private plane is already waiting for us."

"Go," she offered her utmost consent with a beaming smile. "I'll be alright, dad."

Clarence knew he should have protested, be stubborn until he could finally convince her to leave with him and stay out of this mess from this point forward. Chloe, however, appeared too happy to disapprove her decision, and he wouldn't want to be a selfish father. Helpless, he pulled his daughter in for the tightest and most loving embrace he had ever given to anybody.

"Be safe," she kissed him on the cheek and it felt like another bid of goodbye. "I'll make sure your treasure won't go to waste."

"Tell Beca that Bumper will attack Pandemonium," he shared the classified information along with the revelation that he already knew the secret that his own daughter had to keep from him. "She would know what do. She would keep everybody safe. _You_, most especially."

Chloe neither confirmed nor denied that the might Phoenix was indeed alive. It was top secret, the very thing that was keeping The Secret Society out of the radar and in great leverage against the other party. She would keep her word; she wouldn't do anything that would jeopardize the entire mission. Hence, she put on a smile and began to walk away. _Again._ Clarence, like any of those many instances, had no choice but to let her go. He didn't say anything furthermore. He wouldn't want to say 'I love you' or 'See you later'. It wasn't because neither was not true, but it's just so scary to think about it – the striking possibility that they would never see each other again.

* * *

Some of the team members were already gathered around in the Green Room, waiting for the rest. Rem who was not used to being surrounded by a group of peers leaned back to her seat with her feet rested on the nearby table, her fingers fiddled with a silver cartridge restlessly. She was very much of a stranger that nobody was a friend close enough to keep her company. She was all alone. But it's perfectly fine with her. _Alone_ was how she survived all these years. The clock on the wall had just completed an hour when she decided to entertain herself even more by observing the people around.

Jesse was too consumed with whatever nerdy stuff he was up to on the computer that he couldn't even realize the amount of saliva slipping out on the side of his mouth hanging open. Skyler was reading the handwritten manual on how to operate the hologram projector, scratching her temple from time to time probably because the instructions were getting a little too complicated for her to comprehend. Skeletal blonde chuckled timidly, the prim and proper persona of a rich person she was emitting in full vibrancy, when Stan told her a joke about why some stupid chicken crossed the road. Healthy blonde – well, she had sitting behind the crazy one all this time, creepily watching her idol's every move.

"Mate," the sound of a thick Australian accent and a round head was happily peering next to Rem's face followed the index finger tapping her by the shoulder. "You want Oreos? I have Oreos."

"I'm fine, thank you."

"You want Doritos? I have Doritos."

"I'm good."

"Pop tarts?"

"No."

"Mac and cheese?"

There was only so much her patience could really tolerate. Fed up, she took her pistol, loaded the magazine with the silver cartridge and raised the weapon up to level with Fat Amy's eyes, making sure she could see it and understand the death threat she was implying. Rem swore she could hear the loud gulp of fear from the Australian. Very good. To her, it was an orchestration of fulfillment. She turned towards the healthy blonde and flashed a momentary grin.

"Can I ask you something?" inquired the IT expert, tapping on the newbie's shoulder once more when Rem went back to observing the others.

"What?"

"Are you sure you're not any way related to Beca?"

"Why'd you ask?"

"You can be as bitchy as the overgrown baby," was quite the honest opinion. "But you're more fun."

"Thank you!" Rem reached for those chubby cheeks and pressed them together in a very playful manner as a gratitude to the compliment. She also had a smirk on her lips, so Fat Amy was guaranteed that no murder would occur on this day. "That's what I like about you, Pumba!"

Both blondes snickered like a pair of idiots.

"_Hakuna matata,_" Fat Amy senselessly started the memorable song from her childhood, earning the attention of everyone. "_What a wonderful phrase. Hakuna matata. Ain't no passing craze."_

She suddenly stopped herself in realization when a collective grimace was already glaring at her.

"_It means no worries for the rest of your days," _Rem sang much to her teammates' surprise, even moving her head joyously to the beat. The grimace grew at the turn of events, and so she shot them back a look. "What? So I've been a fucking kid once!"

The others nodded their head in understanding and shrugged their shoulders as they dropped their work and joined Timon and Pumba at the back of the room.

_[It's our problem-free philosophy  
__Hakuna matata]_

_[Hakuna matata?  
__Yeah. It's our motto!  
__What's a motto?  
__Nothing. What's a-motto with you?]_

And they went on and on, singing every word at the top of their lungs, giving no shit about anything. To be honest, one look and they had already arranged their setlist for the show. In the middle of this impromptu Disney moment, Chloe had made a quiet entrance into the Green Room, absentmindedly taking a seat away from the others. Nobody seemed to have noticed her, but Rem automatically had her eyes fixed on her _key_. Oh there's their little Simba. The crazy blonde furrowed her eyebrows curiously at the strange sight – there was something wrong as manifested on the heiress' face when the word on the street was the lovebirds were back on. Concerned, Rem sneaked out of the group as they began with Under The Sea in order to join the loner sulking in her chair.

"Hey," was her very informal greeting.

Too preoccupied with all her worries, the redhead still wasn't aware about the other's presence. She continued to stare into space, chewing on her lip like some nervous preschooler. Rem rolled her eyes because she grasped that she had to do the trick once again. She steadied the redhead and lowered a little to kiss her on the lips. It took several seconds to bring Chloe back to consciousness with that kiss, but she eventually pushed the crazy blonde away, taking a glance at the rest who was, thank god, still oblivious of what was happening.

"There are other ways to get people's attention, you know!" she quietly hissed at the person who preferred to kiss people as an alternative to shaking hands or any other casual gestures.

"Don't worry, I'm not into chicks," assured the other with a straight face which was quickly ruined by a sinister smirk when an idea popped in her crazy brain. "…_yet_. Not yet. Maybe someday, I'll consider."

"Something's clearly off about you."

"Something's clearly off about _you," _Rem made a knowing look to accentuate her observation. "Spill the beans, Beale."

Chloe, however, was reluctant and ultimately chose to ignore the conversation, pretend like it ever happened at all. The blonde scoffed in annoyance – she wasn't going to let this rejection slide – grabbed Simba by the arm and dragged her out of the room. She swung her not so gently to the side and closed the door. The young heiress tried to go back in but Rem had speedily locked her against the wall with both hands blocking the gateways for escape and her face dangerously too close for the redhead to concentrate.

"Now tell me what's wrong," was the assertive command.

A silent treatment was what she got in response. She stared at the angelic face and attempted to comprehend the message. Chloe was more than worried; she was _scared._ Of what? _Beca._ There was something about the midget in the dilemma.

"I am _not_ your girlfriend," she reminded. "That means you can tell me anything."

"The Syndicate is going to attack Pandemonium," she hurriedly told her newest friend, afraid that if she didn't talk as fast as she could, she would have time to change her mind and kept the information to herself out of terror. "I don't know when, but it's going to happen!"

"Wait, calm down."

"It's going to happen, Rem!"

Rem tried to laugh it off, unsure. "W-What are you saying, Chloe? That's ridiculous."

"Pandemonium is in danger!" the other insisted. "_We _are all in danger! Bumper is plotting an attack! He knows! He probably knows about everything! Rem, he's going to kill everyone!"

"B-But how do you know, Chloe?" asked the blonde because logically, of all people, why would Chloe be the knowledgeable one about Bumper's plans? The Secret Society couldn't even locate his current hideout! Only someone from the inside could know about the plan.

"Because," Chloe paused to breathe out heavily, a few seconds to make a mental deliberation; her revelation would change the course of things. "My dad is working with the Syndics. He knows that Beca is alive and he knows about Pandemonium. I want to help The Society, I swear. But I can't tell Beca because she's going to hate me. Now if I don't say anything, it's going to ruin the mission and kill a lot of people. It's like betraying the entire team. I'll hate myself and she'll never forgive me."

Rem let out a sigh at the confession. Indeed, it was a problematic matter. She opened up her mouth to render some friendly advice when somebody had purposely cleared their throat to interrupt. Both turned to the side to see the Head Phoenix, Cynthia-Rose and Thud guarding their boss on either side, eyeing the pair caught off guard suspiciously. It wasn't the most appropriate position to discover your girlfriend into with another woman who seemed to never have a problem of pissing off people. Beca had her infamous blank stare on display and it had to mean something. For the sake of team spirit, Rem didn't do any more else to provoke the bad-tempered monster or made things more complicated for people and so she slowly dropped her hands to her sides and went back into the Green Room. Chloe, left on her own to salvage herself, kept it mum and forced to act as calm as possible. She wasn't ready to make a confession yet.

"Was she bothering you?" asked Beca based on the tension on those bright blue eyes. Her girlfriend shook her head 'no'. "If you want, I can remove her out of the team."

"She can help you," was the firm stance of the redhead, and the mighty Phoenix had to believe it – that Rem wasn't an enemy, that she wasn't the one who would ever betray The Society. "Let her help you."

Defeated, Beca let out a sigh and nodded her head compliantly. "Whatever you say, babe."

"If you two are done talking, we should all get in and proceed with the meeting," Cynthia-Rose reminded that the lovebirds were surrounded by two more people just in case they had forgotten all about it because the killer machine's amorous side was starting to show again.

* * *

"One phase of the blueprint had been executed," Jesse reported together with a press of a button on the remote control; a set of holographic images emerged as he spoke while he pointed at the nearby whiteboard posted with a replica of the chalkboard for reference. "Beca had crossed the fence, the treasure is still safely hidden, but we lost someone valuable… Stacie."

Stacie's three-dimensional picture appeared along with the description: _anything for Beca_. Skyler couldn't help but stare at the foreign yet familiar face. She was beginning to understand why people had a certain surprised reaction whenever they would meet her. That was _her_ face; she knew it too well. And she was being marked as _dead_.

"I will take over her duties," Thud raised his large hand as he volunteered. "I'll protect the Head Phoenix until the moment I die."

"Deep," his favorite blonde commented, sounding more sarcastic with that thick Australian accent. It's kind of difficult to hear someone you cared about pronounce his own suicide note out loud.

"Fidelity to The Society," said Cynthia-Rose. "Beca _is _The Society, so we're all expected to do the same."

The woman of the hour huffed, pestered. She didn't need protection, for fuck's sake! Meanwhile, the cheat code stole a glance from the unusually quiet redhead. People were forgetting one significant component in the blueprint, the one that the brainiac Benji Applebaum had happened to overlook in the equation too: Chloe Beale. Chloe was the key, the remote control, the puppeteer… everything the mighty Phoenix did was all about this certain redheaded monster.

"Now the problem here is not really the treasure," Jesse resumed with his presentation. "It's that we weren't able to keep the Syndics out of this business. Bumper Allen will stop at nothing until he gets what he wants."

Chloe's eyes immediately shot towards the guy at the mention of the name. This could be a good time to bring up the information she had acquired. But she just couldn't find the courage yet, especially with Beca sitting right next to her.

"Whether he likes it or not, we're going to have to stop him!" exclaimed Stan.

"We have no idea where he is," Skyler had to explain the findings. "He's managed to stay out of our range."

"We find the treasure, we find Bumper," the Head Phoenix proposed.

"But you said the Syndics attacked Pandemonium 2.0.," Aubrey argued. "Doesn't it mean Bumper had already found us?"

"Without a prominent leader like Beca, he knows that The Secret Society is no longer a threat, so as long as the world _believes_ that she's buried dead then we are safe."

_No, _Chloe screamed in her mind. _The Syndics are already planning for an attack!_

"So how do we find the treasure?"

The topic was changing. Chloe had to say something before it's too late.

"Looking into the pattern," Jesse started, "the places identified in the blueprint contain vaults ideal for securing the treasure. Based on our experiences with the Manor, Russia, and Old Pandemonium, they're all but booby traps. We can cross out Phoenix Tower and the bank from the list. Beca had the key; all that's missing is this particular house or whatever this is. It's most likely where we can find the goddamn treasure."

All eyes were directed towards the drawing. It was of a basic skeletal structure of a house with an _X _mark in it. If only Benji could have been more specific.

"How are we going to get to that… _thing_?" Aubrey questioned the IT expert because according to Back to Basics, he would figure it out. Jesse better had an idea where to jumpstart things.

"Let's ask Ronie," he answered with a shrug like it was the most obvious thing. "After all, Benji stated that she's the missing link."

Stan and Beca automatically raced for the prize, "You ask her!"

The older Mitchell victoriously pulled his elbow down while his sister groaned in defeat; Beca was a split second too late. Chloe wondered how her girlfriend would react when a bigger problem would come into the picture. Would she still groan like this?

"Until then, we're still stuck at tracking, monitoring, and training."

Cynthia-Rose clapped her hands together, "Alright. We're all settled then. Meeting adjourned."

The rest of the group was preparing to head back to their posts and so Chloe was in ultimate panic. She had to tell them about Bumper's plans as soon as possible! Problem was she still couldn't make herself to do the task, not with the rare smile that the horrible monster was throwing her way. How could she tell everyone that her father was working alongside the enemy?

"Bumper will be attacking Pandemonium," somebody announced from the back, loud enough to be heard and alarming enough to gain everybody's utmost attention. It wasn't Chloe much to the redhead's surprise. "I don't know when or how but he will."

Chloe locked eyes with Rem. The blonde woman was putting her spot on the team at risk for saying such thing. The pinch of trust that the Head Phoenix could put into her was growing small as time ticked by; only an insider would know such plan, after all. Beca could kill her right then and there. But Rem knew it was better her branded as a mole than Chloe. She was the cheat code; she was tasked to accomplish what the others including the mighty Phoenix had failed to acknowledge. All was busy protecting Beca, no one was left to protect Chloe except from the mystery blonde woman.

* * *

It was Friday night, a few days after the meeting at the Green Room. The Secret Society was on full alert – nobody left the headquarters as protocol. Pandemonium 2.0 was in business as usual mode, but underneath was a reserved army preparing and waiting for the anticipated attack. Thud and his men monitored the Syndics sneakily camping out nearby, waited for the Head Syndic to make an appearance as expected so they could give the signal to the headquarters. Bumper was yet to appear, unfortunately.

It was the same Friday night when Barden's Chief Directress decided to work late, making sure that everything was set for the soccer game scheduled on the following day. She placed her reading glasses on top of the desk next to the pile of documents and buried her face onto her palms; judging by the amount of time she had spent in her office, it must have already been past midnight, too late to drive home. Ensuring the success of the sports event was far more important than her personal needs anyway.

"Natalie," she pressed on the intercom phone connected to her secretary's. "If you're done with the banners, you may take a rest in the quarters. I'll just finish some more stuff. I need you up early tomorrow, okay?"

There was no answer from the other side of the system. _Peculiar._ Natalie had always been prompt at responding even in a very sleepy state.

"Nat?"

Nothing.

"Natalie!"

What happened next was the door swung open revealing a young man sporting a mischievous smirk accompanied by several other men, all of them had guns in their hands. If her intuition was right, this was the enemy. This could only be Bumper Allen.

"Good evening," he greeted with a slight bow and entered the office without prior invitation. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything, madam."

"You're not welcome here," was the frank declaration. "Not your men or your guns."

He let out a small laugh and showed himself a seat, setting his gun on top of the table. "I see there's no need for formal introduction."

"What do you want?" demanded the old woman.

"Your son and daughter have been waiting for me for days."

"Should I be flattered that you came to visit me instead?"

Grace under pressure, Ronie had learned to master the social skill. She needed to be calm… for Barden, for the kids, for Beca and Stan. If only she could reach for the phone and take a chance at ringing for help without raising so much suspicion which is _very_ impossible, by the way.

"I'm not going to lie," said Bumper. "Your children, especially Beca, have been a real pain in the ass for me."

"So you come to me. What is this? Kindergarten?"

"I just want to give them a grand surprise," the young man sneered. "I heard how they love Barden so dearly. I hope you don't mind me playing with the kids as well, Miss Grant."

"Don't you _dare_ touch these kids!" the Chief Directress stood up and slammed her fists on the table in anger. "If you lay a finger on them, boy, I swear to god I'll cut your balls into a hundred equal pieces and feed them to a dog pound!"

"Harsh," Bumper laughed it off. "But you know what I really _really_ want right now, ma'am? More than the treasure, I want to enjoy the pleasure of knowing the mighty Phoenix would quiver in fear and cringe in agony. And _you _are going to help me accomplish that."

"Why the _fuck _would I do that?"

"Simple. You want to save all these kids."

"What would you have me do?"

"Just stand perfectly still, Miss Grant."

Bumper had a wide grin plastered on his face. He retrieved his gun from the table and stood up. _On the count of three,_ she knew what she had to do. She had to die – to make the mighty Phoenix quiver in fear of death and cringe in agony of losing someone she loved. Chloe wasn't the only key, apparently.

_One… _the Head Syndic flashed his sweetest smile. _Two… _he pointed his gun towards the target and Ronie straightened her back. She wasn't going to die frightened. _Three…_Ben McDouglas arrived in time to stop his older brother. He grabbed Bumper by the arms and held them down before the trigger could be pulled.

"Don't!"

"Ben," Ronie muttered under her breath. She was both shocked and glad to see somebody had come to the rescue. She thought she was right to trust this young man. But then the enemy turned towards the taller brunet as if he wasn't surprised by the sudden intrusion. Worse, he looked at him as if he considered for this to happen. "Benjamin?"

"I told you to wait in the car," Bumper jeered at his brother.

"Stop this now!" Ben yelled out, almost pleading. "Whatever you're about to do, I'm begging you to stop it now!"

"Ben, what is the meaning of this?" Ronie required.

The Head Syndic's face shot up at the inquiry. The sound of mistrust and the trepidation on his brother's face were a harmony in his ears. "I guess we do need formal introductions, after all, Miss Grant."

"Don't do this," the younger McDouglas tightened his grip on his older brother's arm. "Please!"

But nobody would be able to stop Bumper already. "My name is Bumper… Allen… _McDouglas_."

"McDouglas?" the Chief Directress hoped she didn't hear it right.

"We're brothers," Ben finally admitted with great infamy. "Ronie, I… I-I'm sorry."

"What did you do, Ben?"

"Dude, you know what?" Bumper excitedly slapped his brother's back. "I just came up with a very good idea. Why don't you, uh… kill Miss Grant for me? Here. You can use my gun, my dear little brother. Go on."

"This is not what we talked about! You said nobody else will get hurt!"

"Kill this fucking bitch or I'll kill your beloved Chloe myself!"

Ben took a deep breath and stared at his older brother. Goddamn it! After all these years, he still couldn't stand up to Bumper. He was still a stupid toy that the older McDouglas could easily manipulate or break depending on his whim. Worse, Chloe was already part of the game too. Whitewashed, the so-called Mr. Perfect willingly took the weapon from the devil.

"Listen to me," Ronie tried to persuade him back to the good side. "Ben, this is not how you're going to win Chloe. I know you're a good man. You're-"

Before she could say anything more, he had already pulled the trigger because he knew that she just might have the chance to change his mind. He couldn't let himself listen to it. He couldn't bear to concede that he was indeed making a big mistake. He was doing it for Chloe and that was all he had to believe in. And so as the loud bang went off, Ronie collapsed on the ground while streaks of tears stained his cheeks when ceramics crashed on the floor from behind. Everybody turned towards the door to see the brave little warrior standing there, a little disoriented and traumatized by the crime he had witnessed. He was supposed to deliver a cup of coffee for Miss Grant to reward her hardwork. He never thought he'd find her dying in her own pool of blood.

"Maverick," Ben took a step towards the kid for an attempt at redemption but the little guy hurriedly ran away in terror.

"Get him," the Head Syndic casually gave the order to his men. "Do what we came here for, boys."

* * *

_Song: Hakuna Matata from the Lion King_

_In the words of Markus Zusak, "It kills me sometimes how people die." I'm bracing myself for the hate. Good night, Vigan City! Happy Summer, Philippines! :)_

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Pitch Perfect.


End file.
